Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The environment isn't as big of a worry as the economy. The boomers did do a craptastic job politically and economically. Politics today are hilarious tabloid material... Just a bunch of biased, pea-brained liberals and conservatives running the show having no idea what they are doing. After the conversion of the dollar to a fiat currency, they continued to sit around and watch it devalue. You want to see destruction? Let's watch the US dollar plummet. And the political leaders since the mid 70s have done nothing to help our currency. I hope my generation will correct this. In fact, I'm confident they will.
I'm really not concerned about this too much, because the only countries that could do something to make the dollar plummet, Russia, EU, and China have their own internal problems and won't ever surpass the US in my lifetime. For some reason everyone is thinking that China will overtake the US, but I don't buy it. Their economy is so reliant on the US economy that taking the US out will take them out, too.
As for environmental causes, gen Y is more "green" and will continue to become so more and more. Not too worried about that, either, to be honest.
ok,ok I give...although I bet mine is bigger than yours
I not sure where you are going with this but I'm starting to feel just a little uncomfortable. j/k
Quote:
Any commentary on the issue of the army being about to fall apart?
Recruiting and retention statistics don't seem to paint that picture especially in light of this from your article.
Quote:
As evidence, Krepinevich points to the Army's 2005 recruiting slump — missing its recruiting goal for the first time since 1999
juxtaposed with The Department of Defense announcement of its recruiting and retention statistics for the active and Reserve components for fiscal 2006.
Active Duty Recruiting Fiscal 2006. All services have met or exceeded their recruiting goals for fiscal 2006.
Active duty recruiting. All services met or exceeded their recruiting goals in Jan 2007.
Active duty recruiting. All Services met or exceeded recruiting goals for February 2007.
Active duty recruiting. All services met or exceeded their recruiting goals in March 2007.
Active duty recruiting. All services met or exceeded their recruiting goals in April.
Active duty recruiting. Three of the four services met or exceeded recruiting goals for May. Although the Army missed May’s recruiting goal it remains above the year-to-date mission by approximately 2,000 accessions ahead of their active-duty year-to-date goal.
Also remember the study was conducted in 2005, Krepinevich has been wrong so far.
From your article "Army Secretary Francis Harvey, for example, opened a Pentagon news conference last week by denying the Army was in trouble. "Today's Army is the most capable, best-trained, best-equipped and most experienced force our nation has fielded in well over a decade," he said, adding that recruiting has picked up."
Great website though and lots of intelligent comments below the article.
I just want to know, from any of you who've taken interest in this thread, just how are we going to launch a pre-emptive strike against Iran, without YOU? See(insert Bush accent), the Nation needs you! Iran is part of the plan and, without cannon fodder, we're just lost! We need to fight them over there so we don't have to fight them over here. [End Bush Accent]
Preemptive doesn't have to mean ground forces. I guess the Air Force or Navy could do a few air strikes at high interest targets and do some significant damage to their nuclear weapon development program.
BTW, I wouldn't object to that at all.
But you don't need a draft to execute this (don't want to hijack the thread).
How? I am not confident, but if you want to explain...
Because there will be no choice. We can only keep spending like this for so long and the time is rapidly approaching when we will have to correct the situation one way or another.
While the US dollar has been the world's preferred hard currency, it's not the only one. The Japanese yen, Swiss franc, and the Euro are also traded as reserve currencies. This means that other countries in the world hold these currencies in their vaults as backing for their own currencies. Now, sad as it sounds, the yen and the Euro face the same problem we have, inflation. They're printing money as fast or faster than we are so the world's reserves currencies are all becoming worth less and less as the days tick by.
One country is not. That country is Russia. Russia is hording gold, has paid off her external debts, and is working to stabilise the ruble by balancing the Russian budget. This would make the ruble a harder currency than any other including the Swiss franc which is not only half backed by gold. While the world will still need US dollars to buy oil, Russia is also working on creating its own oil bourse denominated in rubles. Now, if you're a country that doesn't use the Euro and you're not Switzerland, Japan, or the US, which currency would you rather have? One that devalues every day or one that holds its value? One that you can also buy oil with?
As soon as the world drops the dollar as the de facto reserve currency, and this is already happening, we are in very serious trouble as all those offshore dollars come flooding back into the US essentially causing a hyperinflation. At that point our economy, and particularly our government, will be in serious trouble.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NewToCA
Preemptive doesn't have to mean ground forces. I guess the Air Force or Navy could do a few air strikes at high interest targets and do some significant damage to their nuclear weapon development program.
BTW, I wouldn't object to that at all.
But you don't need a draft to execute this (don't want to hijack the thread).
This is an issue in itself. Like our human intelligence problems, dropping bombs on things is a tactical solution to a strategic problem. We need Iran to stop developing these weapons OR install a friendly regime in the country. Blowing stuff up only delays their strategic goal, it doesn't thwart it. Like whacking weeds with a stringer, if you don't kill the roots, the weeds just come back.
Tactically-speaking, we have an idea that some of these facilities are in mobile labs or bunkers so deep and so hidden they cannot be reached with conventional weapons. To reach some of them will require the use of nuclear weapons.
If you think the world hates us now, if you want to energize the entire Islamic world, just use one nuclear weapon against them and let every news service in the world announce to one billion muslims that the United States has used nuclear weapons against an Islamic country.
movin' on...you are absolutely right! Let all the people who supported this maniac send their kids....hey they believe in it, I say HAVE AT IT!
This statement cracks me up ... who sent their kids? Did their 'kids' not join on there own as young adults? Last time I check you only needed a parent to get into the military if you were 17. And at 18 your an adult (by law) and Mommy and Daddy can't send you anywhere but out the door.
They joined on their own and they parents didn't send them.
While the world will still need US dollars to buy oil, Russia is also working on creating its own oil bourse denominated in rubles.
Now THAT is the single thing that scares me in the entire world. Mother Russia reborn with a capitalist bent. Yikes. Though it could be worse, the Russians are at least level-headed. I was aware that they were trying to open an oil trade on the "petroruble", but I'm not so sure they will have the raw reserves by themselves nor the influence on other markets to really disrupt the petrodollar....or at least I hope...
I don't disagree with you Jason, but costing Iran some time and resources buys us time to disengage from other military commitments. Sometimes you don't need a comprehensive solution, just costing a few years in development efforts plus knowing you can and will attack has an impact. Also, the cost and effort to improve the protection cost time and resources, which we can use to improve our intelligence gathering about their program.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
j/k
[End Bush Accent]
