Level Extreme platform
Subscription
Corporate profile
Products & Services
Support
Legal
Français
Trump going on at primetime tonight
Message
From
12/01/2019 12:49:29
John Ryan
Captain-Cooker Appreciation Society
Taumata Whakatangi ..., New Zealand
 
 
To
11/01/2019 18:12:51
General information
Forum:
Politics
Category:
News
Miscellaneous
Thread ID:
01665198
Message ID:
01665346
Views:
73
2 aircraft carriers built and 2 on order?

Wikipedia says the Gerald Ford cost about $15b including about $3b reusable R&D. But let's say $15b.

Assuming it takes 8 years to build, that's about $2b per annum. This is probably overstated since policy wonks say an additional $2b per annum would rebuild the fleet to 15 carriers in 25 years, but let's go with $2b per annum to buy a carrier.

With a federal budget of over $4T for 2019, the $2b is .0005 or 0.05% of the budget. So for every $100 of budget, you're paying a nickel towards the carrier.

Straining at gnats etc? Not convinced that focusing on the nickel is the best way to balance the books.

You could say the same about Trump's request for $5b towards a wall: that's 0.001 or 0.1% of budget, so about a dime out of every $100. And still they argue over it.

For comparison, you would need to cut a check for more than 3,000 aircraft carriers to match the Medicare spending deficit.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us.
"
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
Previous
Next
Reply
Map
View

Click here to load this message in the networking platform