Posted on 02/07/2013 10:20:50 AM PST by Freeport
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan The USS George Washington may be the Navys only aircraft carrier that will be ready to respond to a crisis later this year if Congress does not cancel billions of dollars of automatic spending cuts set to take effect next month.
The Navy has canceled ship maintenance and other projects to make up for a $4.6 billion funding shortfall it faces in 2013 because it is operating under a temporary congressional resolution limiting the Pentagon to 2012 spending levels.
Most of the immediate cuts are concentrated on larger bases in the United States and spare Navy operations in the Asia-Pacific region.
However, Navy documents show that if the Pentagon is forced to cut $55 billion from its planned budget for 2013 as the congressional spending straitjacket known as sequestration would require Navy operations in the Asia-Pacific would slow considerably.
(Excerpt) Read more at stripes.com ...
This is super news...for China, Iran, North Korea...
One can never maintain super power status with a rotting economy, Trillions in debt and yearly deficits of Trillion+.
We better wake up to reality soon otherwise we will follow the road to demise ala the Roman Empire, the Third Reich and the USSR.
It is complete idiocy to borrow from China to protect oil supply lanes to China in the straits of Hormuz. Since we can never pay the principal, we are forever in servitude to foreign lenders.
typo correction: principle for principal.
Instead of asking; “Where are the carriers?”, the prez will ask; “Where are the drones?”
Maybe this is what zero was talking to Putin about. He needed more time.
Intended consequences of the leftists
Last time I checked, we had ten carrier groups. What are the other nine doing?
The full court press to suppress public support of budget cuts is on.
In addition to consultation with diplomatic and military leadership, crises of aggression require consultation with a nation’s captains of finance and industry. In effect, the national political leader asks his backers “can we do this”. His backers then offer him the advice that they will. It is this advice that causes wars to start or not start. The leader’s advisors, therefore, are the key players on the geo-political scene, except much of the process of consultation operates behind the scenes. Unfortunately, this “behind the scenes” power is transnational and forms a relatively small and unified nexus. This nexus, in addition to having great control over national economies and capital globally, has enough functional representatives to also dominate diplomatic leadership globally.
A good source fo information, and the best I’ve found outside the wire is at Global Security:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/where.htm
Same thing the local politicians do whenever there is talk of a tax cut.
They always threaten reductions in police, fire, emergency medical and school budgets.
They never warn us that tax cuts could result in fewer fat-butted bureaucrats pushing paper in their multi-multi million dollar ivory tower downtown, cheaper vehicles or elimination of vehicles for bureaucrats, or cutbacks on bicycle lane construction, yuppie jogging trails, etc.
Yes, to continue our ‘progressive’ domestic policies we must shift our military operations to client states, like every ‘progressive’ country does.
Just as the Romans paid for ‘bread and circus’ by contracting with the barbarians for miltayr operations.
They get the benefits and share with us- until we weaken enough that they don’t have to.
Borrowing from China to defend their oil is baffling. But more accurately we ae defending their oil so we can borrow from them to provide welfare. I saw today that China doesn’t even have a strategic reserve of oil. They are very sure of our intentions apparently, at least until they use their profits from us to build their own fleet.
Unless we avoid the sequester, we might have to do what France just did in Mali: win and get out. We won’t be about to stay around for a decade or more and then negotiate with the other side until they win.
Rome: far-flung empire, bread and circuses for the masses, and tax farming. To me, this sounds exactly like what we’re doing.
Great graphic.
I’m stealing it.
These are actions they are already taking. As to burocraticitis, yes, there's that, but not as much as you might think away from the beltway.
The CNO has already canceled ship maintenance cycles - The Navy is tying up ships at dock and turning them off. No threat, this is actually happening.
People who maintain those ships are being laid off - This is happening now, not March... Now.
It started January 1, 2013. If you can find a copy of this PDF, you'll see what's happening RIGHT NOW... "Navy CR_SEQ Navy Fiscal Actions 130125 - 1105A" It showed up in my inbox this afternoon and shows exactly what's cut, getting cut and will be cut. Highlights include idling 10 Ships in San Diago (Now), 10 Ships in Norfolk (Now) and later this year the iddling of a Marine Task force.
Thanks; excellent link.
So, will there be issued “Obama phones” for the troops then?////
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