American Empire in collapse and China on the Rise

[Trotz]

Old School Jet Retooled to Slay Stealth Fighters | Danger Room | Wired.com

How sad, the U.S. is reverting to an old jet that was introduced back in 1976 and is probably outmatched by the newly revealed Chinese J-20 Stealth Fighter (which doesn't cost 150 million a piece).

Instead of admitting mistakes, hiring employees that were otherwise 'pencil pushers', undeserving pensions, cracking down on patronage and corruption, paying for "welfare mammas" in Detroit to have 12 children each, pulling out of Iraq and Afghanistan....

They decided it's easier on the voters to axe the Marine Corp, the F-35, the next generation Abrams and most of the military projects within the armed forces.

 

[Machjo]

The US is now paying the price for decades of overspending. It just can't afford it anymore.

China seems to have learnt nothing from this experience as it spends on the J-20 in the midst of inflation on its own soil. Such spending will certainly not help fight China's rising inflation which is bound to hit the most vulnerable sectors of society the hardest, thus further expanding the gap between rich and poor.

The Chinese people lose in the end.

China may be on the rise, but its increased military spending is bound to put a bit of a drag on it. If China wanted to grow quickly, I'd say:

1. Respect international laws, especially human rights laws, and build friendships with other countries so as to allow China to reduce its military burden on the economy, possibly by heading in a similar direction as Europe with its Franco-German brigade. I know China already practices anti-terrorism exercises with Russia on occasion, so that could be a start while it continues to broaden its relations with other countries.
2. Reduce government spending in all sectors, including the military, save possibly education.
3. Pay off any debt it may have.
4. Remove excess money from the economy so as to bring inflation and interest rates under control.
5. Regulate the lending market so as to prevent companies from engaging in usury. Perhaps a simple solution would be to exempt people below a certain wealth bracket from having to pay back any loan granted after this new law is passed, while allowing lending companies to refuse to lend money without proof of the potential borrower's financial standing. This would make vulture companies shy away from lending to those who can't afford to pay back, thus protecting the poor from getting excessively bogged down in debt.
6. Introduce co-determination laws so as to promote a more fair redistribution of wealth in the economy and to democratize the marketplace.
7. Possibly introduce a Swedish-style school voucher system so as to encourage more innovation in the school system; and possibly a Hungarian-style second-language education policy in its public schools so as to expand it future trade possibilities beyond the English-speaking world.
8. Promote freer trade and free labour movement agreements so as to expand China's access to foreign markets and foreign expertise that might not be available in China.
9. Shift its tax system towards natural resources so as to encourage a more efficient use of its limited natural resources.

Of course it could do much more on the political front, but on the economic front, this would definitely be a start.

 

[Bar Sinister]

Given the fact that robot or remotely controlled aircraft will be the wave of the future it may make little sense to put dollars into aircraft that may be instantly obsolete.

 

[Trotz]

Anything in the air might as well be considered obsolete.
Such a thing these massed missiles attacks are now that they're capable of taking out entire carrier fleets and aircraft sqaudrons!

Every generation in history has made the claim that infantry are obsolete but time and time again they prove resilient. The 2003 Iraq War was one thing (which still took 2 weeks); fighting an equal opponent is another.


Most countries now are equiping their infantry with infantry-platform missile launchers like the FGM-148 Javelin, the Tank's thermal imaging doesn't go through walls or vegetation and the tankers will be yelling "Oh my God", when the rear of their vehicle is struck by a Javelin and that $6 million gas-guzzling tank which requires a fleet of maintainence vehicle is taken out by a $40,000 missile from a 12 man squad surviving on rations...

 

[cdn_bc_ca]

Have you heard about the new French tank? It's got 14 gears that go in reverse and 1 gear that goes forward just in case they get attacked from behind.

 

[lone wolf]

We need to learn sticks-and-stones again....