Treeman, I have to hand it to you. You have basically given us our own homegrown example of the type of immoral blueprint for world domination that Bush, Rumsfeld etc. are planning for us. It is the real reason for the War on Iraq. Get rid of Nato, get rid of the UN, replace them with structures that the US can control even more, occupy the Middle Eastern Oil Fields, emulate the Roman Empire. Dominate space with WMD I assume, Star Wars and offensive weapons, too. The only thing he didn't emphasize is that this should all be done so 4% of the world's population should consume 50% ? (not going to look it up) of the planet's resources. There you have it guys. Per the Bush gang and Treeman that is our goal as Americans. That is what we're getting ready to go to war for. It frankly makes me ashamed to be an American.
Robbie 389, I don't feel like reading the national security strategy. Why don't you exertp from it and make a comment or two as to whether you agree or disagree with it?
The United States is the most powerful country because of what we believe in. Freedom for all people. And Freedom never dies. It only grows.
well i was going to just give you the basic idea of it but it is so damn short its pretty fast to read. if you want the whole thing just go here http://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/nss.pdf it says its 35 pages long but its really 28 after the contents and stuff and also there is a lot of filler space. take 30 minutes out of your day and educate yourself on it sometime...its pretty interesting and it kind of just puts everything in place. but if you don't feel like taking that time to read here is the short overview of it
I don't believe America will give up its position as the "preeminent influence of the world" without a fight. There will be some war in the future against another power/coalition (could be by proxy) just as the English and French and other historical powers have fought that will signal their decline to the rest of the world once and for all. In any event of decline, our economic stability will be the first to crumble. Foriegn investments take up a little than less than half of the total investment of the American economy. The bonds printed from our debt are considered solid currency to foreign investors but should the Euro or another market like China becomes more stable, then such an enormous debt would seem more crushing. Currently our millitary spending is around 300 billion and will balloon to the excesses of 380 billion in the next budget. It takes up around 15% of our GDP, but social security and welfare will consume more than 50%. But fiscal conservatism and structural overhauls seem so distant that these issues are being swept under the rug for the time being. It seems that a collapse in infrastructure will hit us first more than a threat from the outside. After all, isn't it odd that spending from law enforcement, education, and utilities are the first to be hit in budget cuts? Socially, our society will face several changes that will alter the image of the American people. In the next 40-50 years, Hispanics will become the majority. With such a large group interest, our social structure will probably face reform or a wave of ultra conservatism. Kind of an unsettling prospect. Let's sweep that under the rug as well. Our education system is being overtaxed in the wave of sophisticated skills and technology. Consider that 20 years ago, a person needed an undergraduate degree to carry a mid entry job, but today a person now needs a graduate degree to carry a mid to high entry job in certain sectors. Should the current system stay as it is, we will have two middle classes with the educated elite and the semi-educated one skill servicemen. Considering that our people will take a hit in the deficit and fiscal spending over the next 30 to 50 years, we probably have to take care of ourselves in order to preserve our prestige in the future. Restructuring education, our healthcare system, building a new infrastructure to repair our aging ports and roads and to support emerging technologies such as the internet, and most of all resolving class disparities seem such pressing issues today but will be magnified in the coming years. Internationally, other countries will increase economically and millitarily (technology is a hard indicator that could shift the balance in any power). As economic prosperity shifts, the US won't dictate world economic policy as heavily as it does now. We could engender partnership or we could continue our current actions and force other nations to acknowlege whatever influence we still hold. World opinion of the US is very hard to predict. We could put our eggs in a world body, but who's to say that every nation will cooperate or end off starting their own. I feel that if we should take care of ourselves, even at the expense of scaling back millitary presence in other nations, we could more easily adapt (such as decreasing mass consumerism and extravagence) to the increasing pressures and uncertainties of the world. As long as the American people are skilled, serviceable and trained, there will always be a market for us, but we would have to make sure the expertise penetrates all levels and classes of the American people in order to engender prosperity. Our current levels of class and racial inequalities would have to change as a result, and it most likely will. How it will happen is another story.
Did you mean that Defense Spending is 14% - 15% of the Federal Budget (not of the GDP)? I think Defense Spending is maybe around 3% of GDP.
Oops. Yeah, I meant that defense spending would be around 14-15% of the Federal budget, and welfare plus Social Security will rise to 50% of the budget as well.
