via Politico.
*the sampling size is incredibly small...I hate when pollsters use mini-samples to determine where the public is on issues.
*I dislike the fact that we don't know the percentage of Republicans, Democrats or Independents that were surveyed.
Having said that, I will add that this is just the beginning. House Republicans no longer see a need to protect the military from budget cuts BECAUSE they see deficits as a bigger threat to our national security than a rising China.
I tend to agree.
We will see what we'll see but it seems like the US military has been bitten by the "normalcy" bug. Its just like every other institution in America...its a shattered shell of its once glorious self, so why shouldn't it be held in the same contempt as other organizations. That's what normal is these days...not outstanding, doesn't stand out, just conforms and fits in.
Americans’ opinion of the country’s military strength is at a low point, with 50 percent saying the nation’s armed forces are indisputably the strongest in the world, according to a poll released Wednesday.That represents a 14 percent drop from two years ago, when 64 percent of Americans told Gallup the U.S. military was clearly the world’s strongest. The 50 percent mark is the lowest in Gallup’s polling on the issue, which dates back to 1993. In Wednesday’s poll, 47 percent said the U.S. was just one of several military powers in the world, up from 34 percent in 2010.The U.S. is responsible for about 40 percent of the world’s military spending, and spends around six times as much as its closest competitor, China.Republicans are far more likely to believe it is important for the U.S. to be the world’s dominant military power, with 80 percent saying so. Only 62 percent of independents and 48 percent of Democrats believe the same. Overall, 62 percent of Americans said being the top force is important and 37 percent said it is not.The poll of 1,015 adults was conducted from Feb. 7 to Feb. 10. It has a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.I'll put out a couple of things first.
*the sampling size is incredibly small...I hate when pollsters use mini-samples to determine where the public is on issues.
*I dislike the fact that we don't know the percentage of Republicans, Democrats or Independents that were surveyed.
Having said that, I will add that this is just the beginning. House Republicans no longer see a need to protect the military from budget cuts BECAUSE they see deficits as a bigger threat to our national security than a rising China.
I tend to agree.
We will see what we'll see but it seems like the US military has been bitten by the "normalcy" bug. Its just like every other institution in America...its a shattered shell of its once glorious self, so why shouldn't it be held in the same contempt as other organizations. That's what normal is these days...not outstanding, doesn't stand out, just conforms and fits in.
Hm... I'm seeing a lot of 1000-and-change polls of late, in the US. And this one from Gallup (not a small name in the business, in any way). What's up?
ReplyDeleteTake care.
i don't know...its almost like they're seeking a result...i wonder who and where they're polling too. if its just new york and area then they're skewing the results dramatically...but who knows
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately what we have on hand is a typical gun vs butter debate. The public always goes for the later. One downside of having a professional military is the detachment from the society that supports it. Most citizens don't give a rat @ss about US military but if you dare to touch the entitlement programs, man all hell breaks lose.
ReplyDeletewe're way past guns vs. butter...we're into it all must go. too much spending on dubious programs, the older generation having set up a system that perpetuates its wealth at the expense of the younger and a system that is bound to fail because of its own weight. add to it the issues with the financial system and you have lunacy on steroids.
Deletewhy did you have executives jumping out windows during the great depression and none this time? because the government bailed them out.
i contend that the recession is longer and deeper because it wasn't allowed to run its natural course. if we had allowed the bottom to fall out then we'd be rebounding much more vigorously now.
pain is coming and once the civilians have chopped at the military then the social programs MUST come next. i just want to speed up the process. we flush it now...take a one or two year hit and then by 2020 we're gang busters again and living right.
That's political suicide. Seniors are the largest voting block. But I agree with you on most points. US became a great power before social degeneration and globalization. The fundamental building blocks are long gone. Where can you find honest no non-sense, hard-working Americans these days? What about the political climate in Washington?
Deletei think we're seeing the beginning of the end right now. surveys that the press doesn't talk about are the general dissatisfaction with the economy. the President is wrapped up in social issues because it keeps peoples attention off the reality of the thing. add to it a really impressive social messaging campaign mixed in with many in middle America still wanting to see things as being normal (normalcy bias) and we're one major event away from the cleansing economic downturn thats been avoided up till now. everything worth having requires some amount of pain. whether physical, financial, emotional etc...nothing is free.
Deletethe first thing that's going to start ripping this image of things being ok is the obama care price shock. people already started bitching because the payroll tax hit. if the Republicans were smart then they would simply get out of the way and let Obama run wild.
they won't because they don't have a real plan of action but if the liberals were allowed to get everything they want then it could be flushed away in the 2016 election...along with the 2014 thing.
Comparing US military spending with that of China is misleading at least.
ReplyDeleteChinese cost of living is far below US. She can feed and equip a soldier with comparable capability at huge discount. Health care is another good example.
Chinese military is not actively involved in any conflict. PLA isn’t bleeding as we are fighting in Afghanistan and maintaining presence all over the globe.
Subtract these two biggest expenditures, operational maintenance and human cost, US military budget is still higher than PRC but at a much smaller margin. Now we switch our attention to R&D and procurement. Again due to our high cost for human capital and manufacturing, while we still produce qualitatively superior weapons we have to pay with ever higher prices. The Chinese are working feverishly to close the qualitatively gap and still keeps their production cost relatively low so they can afford more. Eventually the qualitative curve and the quantitative curve intercept and then start to move away in opposite direction. That’s when their actual military capability catches up with US and leaves US behind. Hopefully that day never comes but I won't bet my two cents on it.
huh? what? where did that come from? no one compared Chinese spending to the US! geez.
DeleteI am afraid that US is caught up in a downward spiral. It’s a perfect storm of negative energy feeding into each other. I call it a bad mojo. To break the cycle, some sort of catalyst event must occur. This turning point may be shock to many folks and make no mistake, heads will roll and pains will be felt, but it will put us back on a recovery path. The crash of dollar and end of US currency as world’s reserve currency is the most likely scenario. No one will lend us any more of their wealth and we can no longer live off on credit. Just think of a heavily in-debt consumer, bankruptcy is the only viable option. We can then bring back our industry home and start the rebuilding process. Best part of it, the scumbags enriched by Wall Street won’t worth a dime by then. They have to earn a living just like everybody else.
ReplyDeleteI just want to see democrats marched by the citizens down 1600 Penn.
ReplyDeleteI could even see some rino's marching with them.
Tar, feather's and a ticket to somewhere, anywhere but here.
Cuba if they would take them, North Korea too.
Long ago when I was a Democrat I did not hate Republican's or Independents like I hate the current democrats, back then it was give and take, lose and win, all for the same cause but now the democrats have started to become a very dangerous and quite idiotic bunch we are not for the same cause anymore we are in fact two separate countries going in totally opposite directions. Liberal democrat Ideology is being pushed over tradition, laws and rights.
The entire government at this point is one big long nasty turd and it stinks.
Term limits and the end of the career politician is what's needed, Washington DC is that one septic tank that needs a honey wagon so bad the shit is flowing out the top and polluting the neighborhood.
If it's not pumped out we will all gag on the crap till we choke.