tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12429580.post6944238504195636477..comments2024-03-26T06:28:09.125-04:00Comments on GavinThink: Defense is a Public Good. So spend less on it.Gavin Andresenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10105284501947275111noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12429580.post-77706111938503610562012-03-09T18:04:43.587-05:002012-03-09T18:04:43.587-05:00Anonymous/Meni -
There are some problems with you...Anonymous/Meni -<br /><br />There are some problems with your argument<br /><br />1. It's really not that big of an assumption. The more powerful a country is the more an invader has to gain? More like the less wise it would be to invade.<br /><br />For one thing, we will still have military intelligence and national security agencies. We will know very quickly if someone is planning on invading us. Also, no country in the world has the military power to risk invading the United States. We would win. That isn't arrogance, that is a fact.<br /><br />What I would argue is that at the very least you should acknowledge that the size of our military should reflect the threat of invasion. Right now we probably have far more military resources than we would need to repulse an invasion by Russia and China and India combined. More to the point, no one, and I mean no one, is going to try to invade us.<br /><br />If we cut our military by half, which I'm not suggesting we do, there still wouldn't be anyone who could successfully invade the United States. And there simply isn't anyone crazy enough to try these days.Aaronnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12429580.post-21369690514787951772011-12-06T10:55:35.028-05:002011-12-06T10:55:35.028-05:001. "And assuming the Foreign Invader Threat d...1. "And assuming the Foreign Invader Threat doesn't grow as your population grows" - That's a strong assumption that I'm not sure holds up. Arguably, the more powerful the country the more an invader has to gain by attacking it, so he is likely to amass more resources for an attack.<br /><br />2. The bigger the country, the more it has to lose from an invasion, so it will want to further reduce the chance of being successfully attacked.<br /><br />3. The more wealthy the country, the smaller is the marginal utility cost of spending an extra $1 on defense.<br /><br />All these suggest that military spending should indeed scale with some metric of the country's size. The scaling of the optimal spending isn't necessarily linear, though.<br /><br />MeniAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12429580.post-6142244152897113822011-10-25T18:41:00.332-04:002011-10-25T18:41:00.332-04:00Brilliant. I'll be stealing this with attribu...Brilliant. I'll be stealing this with attribution unless there is an objection.Richard Morchoehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14884103775820347526noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12429580.post-84796338336117424642011-10-12T18:44:48.221-04:002011-10-12T18:44:48.221-04:00Last week Mitt Romney told students at the Citadel...Last week Mitt Romney told students at the Citadel that he would increase spending on defense from current levels, a statement that seemed a bit startling to me. <br /><br />Instead the media stays fixated on Mormonism.<br /><br />Rich MorseAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12429580.post-28872513193257077542011-09-19T11:35:54.570-04:002011-09-19T11:35:54.570-04:00Thanks Joseph, I hadn't run across the Nationa...Thanks Joseph, I hadn't run across the National Strategic Narrative; if I were King I'd make it the Official Narrative tomorrow.<br /><br />Is it getting any traction with Republicans? I don't see any right-leaning endorsements on the first few pages of Google search results.<br /><br /><br />I'm trying to argue that IF you can agree that public goods should get less expensive over time, THEN both left and right should be able to agree that the budget for things that are public goods should not automatically grow.<br /><br />(I wonder what the favorite public good of lefties is... clean air maybe?)<br /><br />I realize that'll never happen, but a boy can dream.Gavin Andresenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10105284501947275111noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12429580.post-69768176598455556932011-09-19T10:44:08.228-04:002011-09-19T10:44:08.228-04:00Have you see the National Strategic Narrative docu...Have you see the National Strategic Narrative document by "Mr Y" (senior "rogue" military folks)?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06568874073171899734noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12429580.post-55268731504763073372011-09-18T00:39:19.278-04:002011-09-18T00:39:19.278-04:00I wonder why so few people in this country think t...I wonder why so few people in this country think the same common sense about military spending ...Mishahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02328686693273050280noreply@blogger.com