[ken21]

a noble cause, yours,

but left to our own devices, the american military procurement system has degenerated.

there's no competition.

middle class welfare recipients vote for the same u.s. congress people and senators who take money form northrup and lockheed.

the result is, as an article on the u.s. navy on this forum the other day detailed, an unaffordable navy.

[CasearianDaoist]

Oh come off it, that article was from the NYT. If we want to be a superpower then we have to spend more than 3.5% of GDP on the military. There were years in the cold war that we spent 17%. It is not lack of competition that is the maojor factor: It is the hugh increase of entitlement programs enacted during the Clinton years (with the GOP in power on the Hill, I might add.)

It is just more short sighted boommers in power that cannot learn the lessons of their fathers.