James the cut and paste was to put here the counter to the thought that the US can just walk away and nothing would happen. and that the burden of defense since WWII has been on the US

Yan, America is way better than China, don't get me wrong. But the communist party in China is riding the proverbial tiger. One slip up and they could be toast. Their existential challenge though comes from within, not from abroad. They have lifted 100s of millions out of poverty and are having difficulty spreading prosperity to the hinterlands. Yet expectations of prosperity (and with it, democracy) only increase. This drives lack of regulation and leads to environmental catastrophe. Imo, they want lots of trade to build up their economy, not an unproductive war.

Yan, so it's not that I like China. I just believe that they got bigger fish to fry than us.

Brad, is it your contention that if America did not step in, that China would have actually invaded Taiwan? I confess, I don't know but maybe this was a "Hold me back -- please!" situation. You know, where they were glad that America held them back so they wouldn't have to go through with an invasion.

@Hauta

they're liquidating money you know. look at them selling off our debt, they need cash for infrastructure. furthermore, the private companies are doing so poorly, the state let growth is looking comparatively better. this is not a country that's slowly building up with trade, this is a country on the brink of collapse

https://piie.com/blogs/china-economic-watch/resurgence-state-led-growth-china

this country is not happy with a Donald Trump presidency, and if he starts a trade war on the grounds they're destroying our businesses by exploiting humans and destroying nature; this could get ugly.

more and more controversies are also surround their GDP numbers, and I don't think we're looking at this picture the same way.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahsu/2017/01/23/chinas-gdp-numbers-can-we-trust-the-data/#62ad23f36577

furthermore, I don't care about how much a country wants to "progress," freedom, rights, sovereignty... these are the things America holds dear. China wants to squash these in Taiwan

Brad, is it your contention that if America did not step in, that China would have actually invaded Taiwan?

yes

http://ticdata.treasury.gov/Publish/mfh.txt

If you want to know the particulars of the military budget:

https://www.defense.gov/News/Special-Reports/FY16-Budget
http://www.cfr.org/defense-budget/trends-us-military-spending/p28855

spending has actually been reducing up to now, with most increases due to spending on military medical care. that's what happens when the soldiers are not killed but wounded and need medical care.

@hauta. You should track Chinese investment. China is filling the vacuum left by the Us in Latin America and Africa in a big way. While we are wasting shitton a of money of a white elephant military of expensive toys to make men with small hands feel adequate, China is investing in business and technology and economic power. Guess who is going to win that contest?

Snort. This thread is just embarrassing.

What incredibly ignorant and obnoxious children.

But excellent cannon fodder! #bringbackthedraft

Guess my skepticism about the military spend depends on what the spend is on. We could invest more R&D in cyberwarfare, but we don't need more tanks, airplanes, general machines of war, and foot troops, so hope that's not where the spending is going. Sad to see foreign aid and state department cuts proposed - that's a great formula for making the world a less safe place, by making people even unhappier and more eager to revolt and fight around the world - maybe that's why we need more military, to counteract the fights resulting from the cuts in foreign aid.

Well I've never expected Trump to deliver any really significant benefits from his policies to the working poor of America, eg those struggling on minimum wages etc..as for the redneck dumbnuts who support Trump, he will screw them, lie to them and most of them will be worse off, but most will blame anyone but Trump..the only people to really benefit from Trump's policies will be his own small peer group, the extremely wealthy & selfish. He'll alienate wealthy enlightened types, highly skilled, intelligent types, but they're such a small group & able to protect themselves, they'll just work out ways to endure Trump maybe by finding comfortable refuge in other countries as an example. Good opportunities for European based corporations to do some "headhunting".