But manufacturing all those "useless toys" do things for the economy, do they not? They're not build by the soldiers.
And why is it the militarys fault a federal or local government isn't making funds to fix things?
generally money spent sending people to school, fixing infrastructure, and providing education to produce a skill labor force is more efficient than spending a billion dollars on a plane in terms of economic stimulus.
it would be difficult for them to invade taiwan in any way that doesnt destroy taiwan's infrastructure and therefore makes the whole endeavour worthless. They don't have a way to move their men across the strait and they can't really bomb taiwan or shell them without doing a lot of damage. Taiwan also has its own standing army and airforce as well which would fall eventually, but not before a massive losses that would make the whole thing pointless.
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KageraImitating the worst people. Since 2004Registered Userregular
You really think we'd just let them invade Taiwan and conquer it without a struggle? Do you realize how fucking cowardly that would look?
First off, it's actually theirs anyway.
Second, there's no fucking ability to defend it from China from half a world away when China is RIGHT FUCKING THERE ABLE TO LOB MORTAR AND MISSILES AT IT WITH IMPUNITY.
Third, it's not really that big a deal. Not compared to the massive debt we owe China.
Whenever I hear about preparedness for war with China, all I think of "Why are we having war with China?" and "can we, like, not have war with China?" and, in this instance "I can think of a billion things to better spend billion of dollars on than ensuring supreme air superiority in The Great American-Chinese War of 20SHOULD NEVER HAPPEN."
Yeah, seriously. What's this obsession with going to war with China all about? I've seen it for a while, but I don't get it. Even discounting our economic interdependence and the hell that'd likely wreak on the world's economy, what are we going to go to war over? Taiwan? The occasional Chinese muscle-flexing?
How the hell else can we make the Fallout universe a reality?
But manufacturing all those "useless toys" do things for the economy, do they not? They're not build by the soldiers.
And why is it the militarys fault a federal or local government isn't making funds to fix things?
It would be, sort of, stimulating the economy if the US planned to sell the F22 to it's allies. Then they'd have been able to share the costs of research and development and still build them exclusively with US labor while charging others for the planes.
Alas, the US doesn't think much of it's allies.
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Element BrianPeanut Butter ShillRegistered Userregular
edited January 2011
Guys they're already making the chinese version of red dawn. Of course war is imminent.
There's a difference between preparedness and paranoia, and you're pretty much advocating the latter. I understand where you're coming from but it's far-fetched in the foreseeable future and there are better ways to prepare than the enormously expensive F-22 project. Not that it'd matter, as I expect the economic fallout would screw most of us little people over before the fighting itself ever got close.
Also, every eventuality? Should we be preparing for an alien invasion too? Not to compare the unlikelihood of that to a war with China, but there's a point where you head into the realm of ridiculousness.
I don't think it's paranoia at all. Look at the fall of the Roman empire. I don't want that to happen, do you? When you have two big superpowers, it's pretty obvious that they're gonna start to butt heads. That old "there isn't enough room here for the both of us." Now... better ways to prepare than the F-22 project? Sure, I don't think I ever said that we should go and build a fleet of a thousand F-22s. Did I? Lemme go back and check this thread... uh, no. Never said that.
And hell yes, we should be preparing for an alien invasion. Do you want humanity wiped out? To lose this war means more then defeat, to surrender is to never go home. All of us must rise to the call, above and beyond.
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kaliyamaLeft to find less-moderated foraRegistered Userregular
Haven't you ever heard of the boy scouts' motto: "Always be prepared."
"If you wish for peace, prepare for war."
"We must remember that vigilance is the price of safety."
How is a war with China even gonna work?
Do you really see some kind of 400 million man amphibious landing off the coast of LA or something?
Perhaps a new Golden Horde chugging it's way towards Europe?
Yeah...not happening brosef.
Well, there's Taiwan. And I dunno, maybe something in the future is gonna... happen. Look, I don't have a magic fucking crystal ball. And I doubt you do either.
The military's job is to prepare for every eventuality. Not just the ones we're totally certain of.
There's a difference between preparedness and paranoia, and you're pretty much advocating the latter. I understand where you're coming from but it's far-fetched in the foreseeable future and there are better ways to prepare than the enormously expensive F-22 project. Not that it'd matter, as I expect the economic fallout would screw most of us little people over before the fighting itself ever got close.
Also, every eventuality? Should we be preparing for an alien invasion too? Not to compare the unlikelihood of that to a war with China, but there's a point where you head into the realm of ridiculousness.
One issue is that we need to maintain a military industrial complex during peacetime if we want to be able to draw on it in wartime. Machinery and infrastructure are so complex in the modern battlefield that we can't just mass-mobilize and start churning out planes like we did in WWII. So we need to keep our manufacturing facilities going during peacetime to continue technological development and ensure industrial capacity. This is especially problematic for shipbuilding, as there is less of a civilian demand to draw on compared to what companies like Boeing or Lockheed could do.
Good questions. The issue is that China is asking like Bismarck's Germany. It is incredibly belligerent in its attempts to assert sovereignty over the entirety of the South China Sea and routinely bullies its neighbors. Maintaining the technology to blunt any maritime/air power projection is a big geopolitical necessity for the United States.
The best way to ensure we don't fight a war with China is to be able to credibly and clearly beat China so they don't start anything. Hegemonic global regimes create stability because all the actors know the score. It's when there is multipolarity and no one is sure of who would come out on top that people start taking risks. Because if you do know you're going to lose, you won't start anything.
Hussein in 1991 did what he did because of Ann Kirkpatrick basically made it sound like the US wasn't going to intervene. I don't think we planned to until media and foreign policy establishment pressure mounted.
North Korea has no serious intention of starting a fight. They want to appear irrational and nuclear-armed so we will give them more foreign aid so the elite can embezzle it and go shopping in European malls. They're less a Hermit Kingdom than a Bandit Kingdom.
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Linespider5ALL HAIL KING KILLMONGERRegistered Userregular
There's a difference between preparedness and paranoia, and you're pretty much advocating the latter. I understand where you're coming from but it's far-fetched in the foreseeable future and there are better ways to prepare than the enormously expensive F-22 project. Not that it'd matter, as I expect the economic fallout would screw most of us little people over before the fighting itself ever got close.
Also, every eventuality? Should we be preparing for an alien invasion too? Not to compare the unlikelihood of that to a war with China, but there's a point where you head into the realm of ridiculousness.
I don't think it's paranoia at all. Look at the fall of the Roman empire. I don't want that to happen, do you? When you have two big superpowers, it's pretty obvious that they're gonna start to butt heads. That old "there isn't enough room here for the both of us." Now... better ways to prepare than the F-22 project? Sure, I don't think I ever said that we should go and build a fleet of a thousand F-22s. Did I? Lemme go back and check this thread... uh, no. Never said that.
And hell yes, we should be preparing for an alien invasion. Do you want humanity wiped out? To lose this war means more then defeat, to surrender is to never go home. All of us must rise to the call, above and beyond.
Don't we have nuclear weapons? I think those do a pretty good job at deterring invasion.
You really think we'd just let them invade Taiwan and conquer it without a struggle? Do you realize how fucking cowardly that would look?
First off, it's actually theirs anyway.
Second, there's no fucking ability to defend it from China from half a world away when China is RIGHT FUCKING THERE ABLE TO LOB MORTAR AND MISSILES AT IT WITH IMPUNITY.
Third, it's not really that big a deal. Not compared to the massive debt we owe China.
It's not theirs, because if it was theirs, they wouldn't need to go invade it. But since it's not theirs, they do. Or reunite peacefully. Neither's happened yet, so it's not theirs.
And actually, you can defend it from China, by blowing up all the mortars and missile launchers in China. Where do you get the idea that they can lob those at Taiwan with impunity? Does China have some magical forcefield?
And it is a big deal, because last I checked, we had a defense treaty with Taiwan. Us not honoring our treaties with countries seems like a big deal. But that's just me.
You really think we'd just let them invade Taiwan and conquer it without a struggle?
Do you honestly believe they are going to invade Taiwan while its under our nuclear umbrella?
Do you realize how fucking cowardly that would look?
How many people should die for you to save face? How many billions of dollars should we burn to make ourselves less safe in order for you to save face? Because you know what'll keep us more secure in the future than a a couple more F-22'? Sufficiently enforced levies, a marine transport system capable of meeting projected levels of demand, freight rail networks that aren't bottlenecked to hell, technological research/development/innovation &c. The current size of the military budget, given the present tax rate and structure, is making us less secure over time.
There's a difference between preparedness and paranoia, and you're pretty much advocating the latter. I understand where you're coming from but it's far-fetched in the foreseeable future and there are better ways to prepare than the enormously expensive F-22 project. Not that it'd matter, as I expect the economic fallout would screw most of us little people over before the fighting itself ever got close.
Also, every eventuality? Should we be preparing for an alien invasion too? Not to compare the unlikelihood of that to a war with China, but there's a point where you head into the realm of ridiculousness.
I don't think it's paranoia at all. Look at the fall of the Roman empire. I don't want that to happen, do you? When you have two big superpowers, it's pretty obvious that they're gonna start to butt heads. That old "there isn't enough room here for the both of us." Now... better ways to prepare than the F-22 project? Sure, I don't think I ever said that we should go and build a fleet of a thousand F-22s. Did I? Lemme go back and check this thread... uh, no. Never said that.
And hell yes, we should be preparing for an alien invasion. Do you want humanity wiped out? To lose this war means more then defeat, to surrender is to never go home. All of us must rise to the call, above and beyond.
So...you're just making a joke thread? Is that what this is?
How do Chinese demographics look? With the one child policy they have going on and the cultural importance on males, they might be looking at a major problem in a few decades. We waited out the sovs, can we wait out the chinese?
There's a difference between preparedness and paranoia, and you're pretty much advocating the latter. I understand where you're coming from but it's far-fetched in the foreseeable future and there are better ways to prepare than the enormously expensive F-22 project. Not that it'd matter, as I expect the economic fallout would screw most of us little people over before the fighting itself ever got close.
Also, every eventuality? Should we be preparing for an alien invasion too? Not to compare the unlikelihood of that to a war with China, but there's a point where you head into the realm of ridiculousness.
I don't think it's paranoia at all. Look at the fall of the Roman empire. I don't want that to happen, do you? When you have two big superpowers, it's pretty obvious that they're gonna start to butt heads. That old "there isn't enough room here for the both of us."
Psst - we never went to war with the USSR.
And hell yes, we should be preparing for an alien invasion. Do you want humanity wiped out? To lose this war means more then defeat, to surrender is to never go home. All of us must rise to the call, above and beyond.
I can't tell if you're kidding or not. Please be kidding.
Donkey KongPutting Nintendo out of business with AI nipsRegistered Userregular
edited January 2011
If the president of the ROC got on TV and begged the US military to intervene in the name of freedom and democracy, I'm not quite sure how the hell our leaders would be able to back off that.
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Donkey KongPutting Nintendo out of business with AI nipsRegistered Userregular
And hell yes, we should be preparing for an alien invasion. Do you want humanity wiped out? To lose this war means more then defeat, to surrender is to never go home. All of us must rise to the call, above and beyond.
I can't tell if you're kidding or not. Please be kidding.
We absolutely should be preparing for an alien invasion. One millionth of a percent because it might happen. 99.999999% because it would be awesome.
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FencingsaxIt is difficult to get a man to understand, when his salary depends upon his not understandingGNU Terry PratchettRegistered Userregular
edited January 2011
One, the Roman Empire didn't fall because their military technology sucked, it fell for a myriad of complex reasons, military being only a small part.
Two, Kali, the best way to keep China from starting shit is to make it in its best interests not to. We do that economically.
You really think we'd just let them invade Taiwan and conquer it without a struggle?
Do you honestly believe they are going to invade Taiwan while its under our nuclear umbrella?
I think it's possible. They'd probably bet on the lack of political will to actually nuke them. And you know what, they'd probably be right. Could you actually see a US President launching nuclear missiles at China's civilian population to protect Taiwan? I couldn't.
That's why the issue has always devolved into a wargame about carrier battle groups. Because that's rationally the only response we can made.
GUYS, WHO KNOWS WHEN THE NEXT HITLER WILL APPEAR!?
The United States' military spending reminds me of when my neighbor went out and purchased a $200,000 underground bunker and started filling it with food in preparation for the "race riots."
If the president of the ROC got on TV and begged the US military to intervene in the name of freedom and democracy, I'm not quite sure how the hell our leaders would be able to back off that.
call him an atheist commie and ignore them until it's too late to help? All you have to do is stall.
GUYS, WHO KNOWS WHEN THE NEXT HITLER WILL APPEAR!?
The United States' military spending reminds me of when my neighbor went out and purchased a $200,000 underground bunker and started filling it with food in preparation for the "race riots."
You really think we'd just let them invade Taiwan and conquer it without a struggle?
Do you honestly believe they are going to invade Taiwan while its under our nuclear umbrella?
I think it's possible. They'd probably bet on the lack of political will to actually nuke them. And you know what, they'd probably be right. Could you actually see a US President launching nuclear missiles at China's civilian population to protect Taiwan? I couldn't.
That's why the issue has always devolved into a wargame about carrier battle groups. Because that's rationally the only response we can made.
Lots of shit is possible.
But we typically mean probable with issues like this.
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FencingsaxIt is difficult to get a man to understand, when his salary depends upon his not understandingGNU Terry PratchettRegistered Userregular
How do Chinese demographics look? With the one child policy they have going on and the cultural importance on males, they might be looking at a major problem in a few decades. We waited out the sovs, can we wait out the chinese?
Basically, they'll have a Boomer problem in about 30 or 40 years, and they have begun to discontinue the practice.
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KageraImitating the worst people. Since 2004Registered Userregular
If the president of the ROC got on TV and begged the US military to intervene in the name of freedom and democracy, I'm not quite sure how the hell our leaders would be able to back off that.
Good. It'll make for better video games if I have to fly in inferior, or at least equal, planes rather than having every enemy Baltic/Arab air force composed of old MiGs.
I don't think it's paranoia at all. Look at the fall of the Roman empire. I don't want that to happen, do you? When you have two big superpowers, it's pretty obvious that they're gonna start to butt heads. That old "there isn't enough room here for the both of us."
Uh, I don't think the Roman Empire fell because of another superpower. Unless you're going to go ahead and count the fall of the Byzantines (I forget what destroyed them...the Turks? The Crusades?), but most references to the fall of the Roman Empire refer to the Western Empire.
Now... better ways to prepare than the F-22 project? Sure, I don't think I ever said that we should go and build a fleet of a thousand F-22s. Did I? Lemme go back and check this thread... uh, no. Never said that.
I apologize, then. This is the topic on, like, F-22s and the "Chinese equivalent" so I assumed you were. My mistake.
And hell yes, we should be preparing for an alien invasion. Do you want humanity wiped out? To lose this war means more then defeat, to surrender is to never go home. All of us must rise to the call, above and beyond.
Really? Really? If you're serious then I may as well try to convince you to support NASA and other spacefaring agencies in sending a crew one-way to Mars in preparation for colonization! The sooner we get there, the sooner we discover those buried Prothean ruins that will give us an edge over the Klingon invaders!
Good. It'll make for better video games if I have to fly in inferior, or at least equal, planes rather than having every enemy Baltic/Arab air force composed of old MiGs.
You really think we'd just let them invade Taiwan and conquer it without a struggle?
Do you honestly believe they are going to invade Taiwan while its under our nuclear umbrella?
I think it's possible. They'd probably bet on the lack of political will to actually nuke them. And you know what, they'd probably be right. Could you actually see a US President launching nuclear missiles at China's civilian population to protect Taiwan? I couldn't.
That's why the issue has always devolved into a wargame about carrier battle groups. Because that's rationally the only response we can made.
Possible does not mean probable, and we live in a universe with limited resources. What does this tell you? And never mind that there are also innumerable reasons that they won't invade Taiwan beyond just the military ones.
I'd rather focus on realistic problems facing the nation, personally. And also, let me ask this: how many aircraft carriers or attack fighters are enough to dissuade Osama bin Laden or similar from making us burn $3trillion dollars over a decade?
And hell yes, we should be preparing for an alien invasion. Do you want humanity wiped out? To lose this war means more then defeat, to surrender is to never go home. All of us must rise to the call, above and beyond.
Really? Really? If you're serious then I may as well try to convince you to support NASA and other spacefaring agencies in sending a crew one-way to Mars in preparation for colonization! The sooner we get there, the sooner we discover those buried Prothean ruins that will give us an edge over the Klingon invaders!
I can honestly see some Air Force generals going, "Chinese stealth fighters? Isn't that cute? BONER ALERT" and then demand that they get an increase in funding for some super duper stealth ultra sonic fighter bomber space craft.
That will come out in 30 years, when it's no longer required.
Edit: and because of Congressional input/demands, it'll only go super sonic, it'll carry half the payload, and it's stealth only works when it's not flying. So for an initial order of 100, we'd order 1000 instead to cover the mistakes.
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KageraImitating the worst people. Since 2004Registered Userregular
edited January 2011
I'm sorry Delta, I can't take you seriously. Not when you link to a TV show.
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Gennenalyse RuebenThe Prettiest Boy is Ridiculously PrettyRegistered Userregular
And hell yes, we should be preparing for an alien invasion. Do you want humanity wiped out? To lose this war means more then defeat, to surrender is to never go home. All of us must rise to the call, above and beyond.
Really? Really? If you're serious then I may as well try to convince you to support NASA and other spacefaring agencies in sending a crew one-way to Mars in preparation for colonization! The sooner we get there, the sooner we discover those buried Prothean ruins that will give us an edge over the Klingon invaders!
Oh. Whew. I'm sorry, I've seen people get serious about that before. In my own family. And they aren't even crazy normally.
EDIT: Specifically, my uncle thinks we shouldn't beam messages and signals into space because we'll attract the attention of imperialist alien empires who will proceed to colonize us the same way Europeans colonized the Americas. It's certainly awkward when it comes up in conversations about, you know, the colonization of the Americas.
F-22 equivalent? Those engine exhaust ports aren't remotely stealthy, the intakes aren't much better, the forward-canard wing design blows your radar signature up like crazy (see also Eurofighter Typhoon) and I guarantee that their onboard radar is twenty years behind. Listen, China, fighter planes are not consumer electronics. You can't fake it, look the part, and say it's just as good.
I mean, you're going to see this used as an excuse to spend more money on our nation's toys, but really, "nothing to see here, folks, move along".
Posts
Well played, sir.
generally money spent sending people to school, fixing infrastructure, and providing education to produce a skill labor force is more efficient than spending a billion dollars on a plane in terms of economic stimulus.
First off, it's actually theirs anyway.
Second, there's no fucking ability to defend it from China from half a world away when China is RIGHT FUCKING THERE ABLE TO LOB MORTAR AND MISSILES AT IT WITH IMPUNITY.
Third, it's not really that big a deal. Not compared to the massive debt we owe China.
It isn't, exactly. But that government controls how money is spent, including the money in the military.
move to Ukraine and dig a hole in the zone.
It would be, sort of, stimulating the economy if the US planned to sell the F22 to it's allies. Then they'd have been able to share the costs of research and development and still build them exclusively with US labor while charging others for the planes.
Alas, the US doesn't think much of it's allies.
Arch,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_goGR39m2k
I can't wait for the Chinese Version of The Day After.
Steve Gutenberg needs work y0.
I don't think it's paranoia at all. Look at the fall of the Roman empire. I don't want that to happen, do you? When you have two big superpowers, it's pretty obvious that they're gonna start to butt heads. That old "there isn't enough room here for the both of us." Now... better ways to prepare than the F-22 project? Sure, I don't think I ever said that we should go and build a fleet of a thousand F-22s. Did I? Lemme go back and check this thread... uh, no. Never said that.
And hell yes, we should be preparing for an alien invasion. Do you want humanity wiped out? To lose this war means more then defeat, to surrender is to never go home. All of us must rise to the call, above and beyond.
One issue is that we need to maintain a military industrial complex during peacetime if we want to be able to draw on it in wartime. Machinery and infrastructure are so complex in the modern battlefield that we can't just mass-mobilize and start churning out planes like we did in WWII. So we need to keep our manufacturing facilities going during peacetime to continue technological development and ensure industrial capacity. This is especially problematic for shipbuilding, as there is less of a civilian demand to draw on compared to what companies like Boeing or Lockheed could do.
Good questions. The issue is that China is asking like Bismarck's Germany. It is incredibly belligerent in its attempts to assert sovereignty over the entirety of the South China Sea and routinely bullies its neighbors. Maintaining the technology to blunt any maritime/air power projection is a big geopolitical necessity for the United States.
The best way to ensure we don't fight a war with China is to be able to credibly and clearly beat China so they don't start anything. Hegemonic global regimes create stability because all the actors know the score. It's when there is multipolarity and no one is sure of who would come out on top that people start taking risks. Because if you do know you're going to lose, you won't start anything.
Hussein in 1991 did what he did because of Ann Kirkpatrick basically made it sound like the US wasn't going to intervene. I don't think we planned to until media and foreign policy establishment pressure mounted.
North Korea has no serious intention of starting a fight. They want to appear irrational and nuclear-armed so we will give them more foreign aid so the elite can embezzle it and go shopping in European malls. They're less a Hermit Kingdom than a Bandit Kingdom.
Tibet, yo.
Just sayin.
Don't we have nuclear weapons? I think those do a pretty good job at deterring invasion.
It's not theirs, because if it was theirs, they wouldn't need to go invade it. But since it's not theirs, they do. Or reunite peacefully. Neither's happened yet, so it's not theirs.
And actually, you can defend it from China, by blowing up all the mortars and missile launchers in China. Where do you get the idea that they can lob those at Taiwan with impunity? Does China have some magical forcefield?
And it is a big deal, because last I checked, we had a defense treaty with Taiwan. Us not honoring our treaties with countries seems like a big deal. But that's just me.
Do you honestly believe they are going to invade Taiwan while its under our nuclear umbrella?
How many people should die for you to save face? How many billions of dollars should we burn to make ourselves less safe in order for you to save face? Because you know what'll keep us more secure in the future than a a couple more F-22'? Sufficiently enforced levies, a marine transport system capable of meeting projected levels of demand, freight rail networks that aren't bottlenecked to hell, technological research/development/innovation &c. The current size of the military budget, given the present tax rate and structure, is making us less secure over time.
Yes it has. Even if we just restrict it to PRC rather than going all the way back to the founding of the middle kingdom.
So...you're just making a joke thread? Is that what this is?
I can't tell if you're kidding or not. Please be kidding.
We absolutely should be preparing for an alien invasion. One millionth of a percent because it might happen. 99.999999% because it would be awesome.
Two, Kali, the best way to keep China from starting shit is to make it in its best interests not to. We do that economically.
That's why the issue has always devolved into a wargame about carrier battle groups. Because that's rationally the only response we can made.
The United States' military spending reminds me of when my neighbor went out and purchased a $200,000 underground bunker and started filling it with food in preparation for the "race riots."
call him an atheist commie and ignore them until it's too late to help? All you have to do is stall.
like, this year?
Basically, they'll have a Boomer problem in about 30 or 40 years, and they have begun to discontinue the practice.
We've done it before.
China "invaded" Tibet like Lincoln "invaded" the Confederacy.
Uh, I don't think the Roman Empire fell because of another superpower. Unless you're going to go ahead and count the fall of the Byzantines (I forget what destroyed them...the Turks? The Crusades?), but most references to the fall of the Roman Empire refer to the Western Empire.
I apologize, then. This is the topic on, like, F-22s and the "Chinese equivalent" so I assumed you were. My mistake.
Really? Really? If you're serious then I may as well try to convince you to support NASA and other spacefaring agencies in sending a crew one-way to Mars in preparation for colonization! The sooner we get there, the sooner we discover those buried Prothean ruins that will give us an edge over the Klingon invaders!
But seriously, I hope you're not being serious.
When, precisely, did Tibet secede from China?
Possible does not mean probable, and we live in a universe with limited resources. What does this tell you? And never mind that there are also innumerable reasons that they won't invade Taiwan beyond just the military ones.
I'd rather focus on realistic problems facing the nation, personally. And also, let me ask this: how many aircraft carriers or attack fighters are enough to dissuade Osama bin Laden or similar from making us burn $3trillion dollars over a decade?
Psst.
it's a joke dude
That will come out in 30 years, when it's no longer required.
Edit: and because of Congressional input/demands, it'll only go super sonic, it'll carry half the payload, and it's stealth only works when it's not flying. So for an initial order of 100, we'd order 1000 instead to cover the mistakes.
Oh. Whew. I'm sorry, I've seen people get serious about that before. In my own family. And they aren't even crazy normally.
EDIT: Specifically, my uncle thinks we shouldn't beam messages and signals into space because we'll attract the attention of imperialist alien empires who will proceed to colonize us the same way Europeans colonized the Americas. It's certainly awkward when it comes up in conversations about, you know, the colonization of the Americas.
I mean, you're going to see this used as an excuse to spend more money on our nation's toys, but really, "nothing to see here, folks, move along".