Thread: China plans double-digit boost in military spending

Originally Posted by The Third Man

The thing is with borrowing to buy things that you cannot afford you have to pay it back. I am not bothered if America wants the most advanced military in the world but the fact is they cannot afford it and are just lining themselves up for a huge fall economically. They need to save money not spend more.They could easily defend themselves without spending so much money. You do not see anyone attacking China and they spend about a 7th of what America spends.

That is becuase compared to us they give thier soldiers rocks and sticks to fight with.

Originally Posted by Dayton3

Of course, most of the U.S. budget is on personnel while the bulk of the Chinese budget is for weapons.

Do you have evidence of that? Your statement about the U.S. budget is correct. The Chinese military is much larger than the U.S. though.

Originally Posted by SiliconMagician

Why shouldn't we have the best, most powerful, advanced and high tech military on the planet?

last I checked world peace and total global disarmament was still about 1000 years away.

Also, how is our mere presence in the region a threat to China unless they actually have something bad planned for our allies in the region.

We have no desire to attack China, but to defend against their possible aggression.

They are the offense in this one, not us. We can move forces anywhere on the planet we wish and no one should be building up forces against it becuase we are not a threat to anyone who doesn't send airplanes flying into our skyscrapers or threatens our most important trading partners.

We should have the best and most powerful. Current overspending levels put our ability to maintain the best and most powerful in jeapordy as well as the security of our country.


The Chinese are so far behind it is not even funny. Right now we spend 900 Billion "total defense spending" and China spends 100 Billion.

Is this really necessary to stay ahead ?

Our revenue is 2.1 Trillion. After interest on the debt we have 1.7 Trillion to spend. 900 Billion is over half of what we actually have to spend.

Our Total spending is 3.5 Trillion so we keep going further and further into debt to finance our current activities.

When other countries and investors stop lending us money .. what do we do then ?

Originally Posted by SiliconMagician

That is becuase compared to us they give thier soldiers rocks and sticks to fight with.

I see that you skipped that America cannot afford to spend all they do on arms and now you seem to think that the Chinese military fight with rocks and stones. Interesting but ultimately incorrect.

Originally Posted by SiliconMagician

Why shouldn't we have the best, most powerful, advanced and high tech military on the planet?

last I checked world peace and total global disarmament was still about 1000 years away.

Also, how is our mere presence in the region a threat to China unless they actually have something bad planned for our allies in the region.

We have no desire to attack China, but to defend against their possible aggression.

They are the offense in this one, not us. We can move forces anywhere on the planet we wish and no one should be building up forces against it becuase we are not a threat to anyone who doesn't send airplanes flying into our skyscrapers or threatens our most important trading partners.

ahh that doesn't sound right "they are the offenese, We can move force anywhere, no one should be building up force against it" this sound like we are on offsense. its not like they are building missile in cuba. we were the one went to asia, they live in asia.

what you should say, we are there to protect our allies/friends in asia, japan, korea, phillpines, and protect the sea lanes from china aggression. this sounds better.

Originally Posted by Giftedone

The Chinese are so far behind it is not even funny. Right now we spend 900 Billion "total defense spending" and China spends 100 Billion.

Is this really necessary to stay ahead ?

Our revenue is 2.1 Trillion. After interest on the debt we have 1.7 Trillion to spend. 900 Billion is over half of what we actually have to spend.

Our Total spending is 3.5 Trillion so we keep going further and further into debt to finance our current activities.

When other countries and investors stop lending us money .. what do we do then ?

Actually out military budget is less then $700 billion. $683.7 billion to be exact.

The far bigger problem is entitlement spending, not the military budget. That is where the vast majority of the US money goes.

Originally Posted by Mushroom

Actually out military budget is less then $700 billion. $683.7 billion to be exact.

The far bigger problem is entitlement spending, not the military budget. That is where the vast majority of the US money goes.

I mentioned this earlier .. Military spending is currently 713 Billion but total defense spending is given as over 900 Billion.

http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/...ending_30.html

I do not disagree that entitlement spending is a problem. One thing about entitlement spending is that you cant use the total entitlement number because a percentage of the total is given by the state and another portion was paid into the program by the one receiving the entitlement.

Originally Posted by Giftedone

I mentioned this earlier .. Military spending is currently 713 Billion but total defense spending is given as over 900 Billion.

http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/...ending_30.html

I do not disagree that entitlement spending is a problem. One thing about entitlement spending is that you cant use the total entitlement number because a percentage of the total is given by the state and another portion was paid into the program by the one receiving the entitlement.

And as myself and others have told you over and over and over again, you can't lump in anything that has to do with defense (like in this case Border Patrol, Homeland Security, Marshall's service, FBI, etc) into a singly lump and call it "Defense" and be taken seriously.

Otherwise, myself and others would be fully entitled to take SSI, Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare, and every single "Entitlement Program", then throw back at you that Entitlements amount to over $2.4 trillion.

SO fine, I accept your hyperinflated figure of $900 billion. And throw right back at you the big block called "Entitlements" at almost 3 times that figure, over $2.4 trillion.

Now where is all the money going?

And no, the US Military budget for 2010 was only $683 billion. The 2011 budget has yet to be computed, and the estimated 2012 budget will be only $707 billion.

Granny thinks dey up to no good...

China's double digit military growth
March 5th, 2012 - China said Sunday it plans to increase its defense budget by 11.2%, following similar increases in years past and coming on the heels of a renewed U.S. push in the region.

The planned increase would lift spending to some 670 billion yuan ($106.4 billion) in 2012, which is almost 68 billion more than 2011 spending, said Li Zhaoxing, spokesman for the National People's Congress. By comparison, the proposed U.S. defense budget for the 2013 fiscal year is $613.9 billion, including $525.4 billion in base spending. That budget cuts half a trillion dollars in spending increases over the next 10 years. Li spoke a day before the annual session of the Chinese legislature is scheduled to start in Beijing. "The Chinese government follows the principle of coordinating defense development with economic development. It sets the country's defense spending according to the requirement of national defense and the level of economic development," he said.

Last year, China announced it would increase its defense budget by close to 13%. It reported a 7.5% increase the year before. Li stressed that China's defense spending will go primary toward living expenses, training, maintenance and equipment, China's state news agency Xinhua reported. Given the country's population, long coastline and large territory, the outlays are low, he said. "The limited military strength of China is solely for safeguarding its national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and will not pose a threat to any country," the news agency reported Li as saying. Still, China's announcement is sure to stoke concerns among some its neighbors.

China regards Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to use force against the island if it ever formally sought independence. China also has claimed a significant portion of the South China Sea as its own territorial waters, putting it in conflict with other nations that have made claims on portions of the region. The move is similarly sure to raise eyebrows in Washington, where President Barack Obama is pursuing a more aggressive approach in the region. During last year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, the president stressed the importance of the Pacific to global economic security.

And this year, Obama and top defense officials unveiled a new U.S. defense strategy that focuses heavily on the Asia-Pacific region, a fast-growing economic powerhouse with numerous potential flashpoints that the administration has identified as crucial to U.S. interests. The strategy calls for the United States to increase its military's "institutional weight and focus on enhanced presence, power projection, and deterrence in Asia-Pacific," said Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Xinhua, while welcoming a peaceful U.S. role in the region, cautioned in a commentary then against the United States acting like a "bull in a china shop."

http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/0...litary-growth/

China would have to keep this high increase rate up for about 15-20 years (my estimate is 18 years) to equal US spending levels if the USA has a zero change rate.