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I agree that some of our government departments are huge. The
inefficiencies of our government are well known. Also well known are the large amount of social welfare cheats. I guess we need a lot of people to catch thes cheats though. We could decrease that numbe though if the penalties for those cheats were much harder. Hard time maybe! As far as what our country spends of defense, I believe it is necessary. I do believe that we should not be in every police action though. The European countries and also Japan do not spend a large percentage on defense because they are depending on the U.S. to pull their, "chestnuts out of the fire", if anything comes up. The United Nations is a joke and should go the way of the League of Nations. A paper Tiger, especially with Kofi Anan at the helm. Mike Lindo KG6IOC -- "You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass." --Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto "Dwight Stewart" wrote in message link.net... "Mike Lindo" wrote: So, if what you say is true, where does the money come from to pay for all of those benefits? Several facters. First, they generally have smaller governments. Government is huge today, involved in some way or another in almost every aspect of our lives. One or two of our government departments (say Health & Human Services and State) are almost as large as their entire civilian government. Second, they hit corporations a little harder then we do here, not a lot but somewhat harder. For example, business can't write off as much. Finally, and here is a big one, they spend far less on defense. Our defense costs are huge (annual military budget, debt, interest on debt, research, retirement, medical benefits for injured vets, and so on). There are certainly other facters, but these are the most obvious. Dwight Stewart (W5NET) http://www.qsl.net/w5net/ |
"Mike Lindo" wrote:
(snip) The European countries and also Japan do not spend a large percentage on defense because they are depending on the U.S. to pull their, "chestnuts out of the fire", if anything comes up. (snip) It angers me to see people in this country trashing Germany, Italy, and Japan for not spending enough on defense. These countries have little choice in the matter. The United States, with allies, set limits on the size and character of their militaries following WWII. As such, it would take significant changes to their laws to increase the size and capabilities of their militaries (changes that would not likely be accepted by the USA, past allies, or neighboring countries). As for the other countries, both the UK and France have nuclear weapons and can defend themselves, Switzerland and Sweden are long time neutrals, Norway is a quasi-neutral, Spain is a quasi-neutral, Portugal is a quasi-neutral, Austria is a quasi-neutral, and Russia still has one of the largest militaries in the world. In the end, only the Netherlands, Denmark, and Belgium are weak on defense, and that only because their populations are too small to support a larger military. So, if you want to see Germany, Italy, and Japan rearm, the people you should be talking to are sitting in Washington. However, these are independent countries with world views very different than our own. As such, don't expect any more support for our global ambitions after these countries rearm. Indeed, those renewed militaries may turn out to be a threat to those ambitions. Dwight Stewart (W5NET) http://www.qsl.net/w5net/ |
I don't think that that's the whole picture. Those countries use that as an
excuse not to participate in more peace keeping duties, in which the U.S. has to fill the gaps, by these countries lack of full participation. Changes in their laws probably will not happen due to their peoples lack of willingness to participate in cleaning out the "rat nests" of the world. At least until a few planes drop in an kill a few thousands of their citizens! "Dwight Stewart" wrote in message link.net... It angers me to see people in this country trashing Germany, Italy, and Japan for not spending enough on defense. These countries have little choice in the matter. The United States, with allies, set limits on the size and character of their militaries following WWII. As such, it would take significant changes to their laws to increase the size and capabilities of their militaries (changes that would not likely be accepted by the USA, past allies, or neighboring countries). Dwight Stewart (W5NET) http://www.qsl.net/w5net/ |
That would be great! Then they can feed the rest of the world and take the
burden off of the U.S. We wouldn't have to send so much of our tax dollars out of the U.S.! -- "Leonard Martin" wrote in message t... I'm putting my hope in Europe. It's developing quickly into a great economic power, and as such it could counter the often-malign influence of the US. I listen to all news about the European community that appears on shortwave with the greatest interest. Leonard |
"Leonard Martin" wrote:
I'm putting my hope in Europe. It's developing quickly into a great economic power, and as such it could counter the often-malign influence of the US. I listen to all news about the European community that appears on shortwave with the greatest interest. Russia is still worth watching also. Russia still has the second largest military in the world, a massive reserve of conventional and nuclear weapons, a slowly recovering economy, a wealth of natural resources, and growing trade with Western Europe. If they ever get their act back together, they will be a major actor on the world stage again. And, thanks to that growing trade, the future Russia will likely be very European. Dwight Stewart (W5NET) http://www.qsl.net/w5net/ |
You demonstrate this regularly.
"Mike Lindo" wrote in message om... I don't think |
Is that all you can say in your response? Nothing of substance?
Enough of this! This subject is off topic anyway. Goodbye. -- "You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass." --Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto "CW" wrote in message ... You demonstrate this regularly. "Mike Lindo" wrote in message om... I don't think |
I quoted the only meaningful thing you have said. Welcome to my kill file.
"Mike Lindo" wrote in message m... Is that all you can say in your response? Nothing of substance? Enough of this! This subject is off topic anyway. Goodbye. -- "You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass." --Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto "CW" wrote in message ... You demonstrate this regularly. "Mike Lindo" wrote in message om... I don't think |
On Thu, 22 Jan 2004 16:30:35 GMT, "Mike Lindo"
wrote: You don't mention that the working Europeans pay for all of that through enormous taxation. Depends on whether you call 21% + 8% social insurance "enormous taxation" or not. Married, 1 child. Volker Soon to be EC3/EB3. |
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