| spurgeonryan said: I am well aware of what the waste from first hand experience. |
It's also worth mentioning that when an American soldier is issued an M4 it costs what, $4000? When a Russian soldier is given his AK-12 it'll cost just $50. The AK-12 is comparable if not superior to the M4. The Russians in this example get to spend 1/80th as much money to effectively achieve the same results. The additional funds needed by the US military aren't even considered a part of the 20-25% budgetary waste that occurs. Again, considering the sizable budget of the US military they really aren't doing anything impressive. Couple that with the fact that the Russians are telling bold faced lies about their own military budget (they claim to only be spending $70 billion annually yet they just completed a $46 billion dollar missile system and approved an additional $200 billion modernization project that will run parallel with at least one other such project) and you get an idea of the type of conflict we're facing. It's as if somebody is levelling the playing field as to assure mutual destruction.
Edit: I don't even need to get into what the Chinese are accomplishing at a fraction of the cost.
2nd Edit: The latest military modernization project in Russia totals approximately $650 billion, which is not adjusted for purchasing power parity. This project will run parallel to the aforementioned $200 billion (also not adjusted for PPP).
