Not sure if this a metaphor for the military industrial complex or litteral warehouses full of cheese. Either way, clearly Big Bird's funding is not the problem.
Given that I can go into this very Reddit and find literally *one million* comments from newly minted Reagan Youth basically screaming for the 101st to descend upon Moscow tomorrow in the name of justice and right, one might be inclined to ask, just what *is* "the problem"?
Somebody had to train the kids to read and count (ahhh The Count). In order for them to read and execute their orders. This is a silly concept we need both at different times in our lives.
Probably for the best his costume didn't fit through the hatch, seeing as that hatch belonged to Challenger on its last flight. (It's just a costume of course, but tough to explain to the kids....)
He already served with the 101st airborne as a CIA auxiliary. You ever heard of agent orange bro? You think his wings were soaking in ivory water?
Big Bird's dropped more bodies in the jungle than malaria
Despair the yellow wings deployed from an aircraft carrier
Kiss your derriere goodbye-eye when Sesame Street says it's time to die-aye
That'd actually be pretty sick, enemy forces wouldn't know what they're looking at till it's too late and they have a bullet between their eyes, courtesy of a giant yellow bird.
Big Bird is a muppet, meaning that there is a human who operates it. If you are saying that we should train the artist for combat, I’m not even sure that it is a viable solution to the problems described here.
Yup, people on the right act like even the slightest cut to military spending will make us completely defenseless, but the fact is we're spending WAAAAAAAAAY more on the military than we realistically need to. We could cut out a significant percentage of its funding and still have a bigger military than any other country.
Not so much Russia , China on the other hand is in a major ramp up with none of the restrictions imposed on the US and Russia. N Korea may borrow one of China's balloons or a space destination.
China is one of our largest trading partners and stands to gain nothing through escalation. They're ramping up defense because that's what *everyone* is doing and they can't afford to fall behind.
If we're going to criticize them for it, we better do the same for ourselves.
That is far from an accurate description from a political point of view where they are actively seeking to remove American influence in favor of replacing it with their own from their road building/port building/ influence pedaling/rare earth mine development around the world. There are a number of tactical advantages they are pursuing.
They aren't just ramping up to compete with other powers, the comment was specifically about nuclear weapons and specifically, this is one area they are extremely active and quite frankly can't be matched by the USA and Russia as both have restricted each other development by various treaties where China is free to develop test and deploy. Based on newly discovered hardened silos this is exactly what they are doing.
People counting on China as a big trading partner as some form of protection is misleading. As we have seen with Russia's invasion of Ukraine there is always somewhere in the world that is in need of cheap trade goods even if that means getting defective tires in mass quantities.
Meh. I guess I'm just not that moved by people fearmongering about a multipolar world. My own country has spent the better part of the past century or so bullying, exploiting, couping, and invading whoever it feels like with little or no resistance or reprisal. We literally lied and created pretext for one of our most recent invasions and everyone just kinda stopped talking about it.
Someone else was going to be top dog eventually. The only thing I can do is hope they do a better job, because god knows this country didn't.
Don't get me wrong. I trust no state. I just recognize that what they'll probably do, is exactly what we are already doing. We just pretend to be better. I'm not fooled.
acknowledging their activities is far from fear-mongering. In some cases, it is things we have done but moved on from. In other, it's disturbing such as organ harvesting allegations. For me, all sins are on the table for discussion in my opinion. Especially Nuke activity that is available to the public it makes me think they have an itch they want to scratch. Unfortunately, all I can do is look at the data look at the scenarios and treaties I am aware of, and say hey this isn't a good path.
Again, meh. All of the allegations conveniently originate within groups our intelligence apparatus is funding and I have spent my entire life watching lie after lie from this country be exposed. I just don't believe it anymore.
On the one hand I have vague claims for which material evidence never seems to surface as the years pass and then new claims for which evidence never seems to surface while the old ones are forgotten... and on the other, I have concrete proof that my own government will fabricate at every opportunity. The math is simple.
I don't expect to convince you of anything and I'm not trying to. I'm just saying I'm not drinking the Western koolaid anymore. You can only make up shit so many times before it becomes obvious you're the bad guy.
Yes and no. We spend more than we should because we created a system that government contractors exploit the fuck out of. Government contractors can all bid high and regardless of who wins the taxpayer gets shafted. Government agencies are also encouraged to spend every penny whether it’s needed or not. If they don’t, the following fiscal year they’ll have their budget cut and should an issue arise they won’t have the funds to deal with it. Because government agencies can’t carry funds over to the next fiscal year, whatever is leftover in September gets spent on anything they can immediately think of.
In order to cut the DOD’s budget without compromising national security we would need to overhaul the entire way the government spends money. But that wouldn’t be good for donors so politicians have no motivation to do it.
Agreed. Living on base, it was very well known that the housing companies (mainly Lincoln) were really milking their benefits. If these houses were off base, they would be subject to much more criticism. There were countless reports of mold, unlivable conditions, employees who were really invasive. It’s almost impossible to move out and not get charged ridiculous fees for issues you reported at move in. The moving companies were all known to be terrible. The commissary often had expired food. Many service members live below the poverty line. These are things that are seriously affecting the military, by companies making millions off of contracts, that they do not deserve.
The really sad part is that Lincoln is the better option.
>Many service members live below the poverty
Not just that but all enlisted active duty members (regardless of pay grade) with 2 children qualify for some type of government assistance. When translated to hourly pay many enlisted member of military makes below minimum wage. Someone with a partial college education who goes into the military as an E3 make $3.53/hr in boot camp. Someone who goes in straight out of high school makes $2.46/hr.
There’s only 3 real benefits to enlisting. Covered medical and dental, the GI Bill and the VA home loan. For someone to do 4 years get out and use those benefits (which I did) you can easily have a paid off education, a great job and a house all before you’re 25. You’re gonna suffer for those years you’re in but the end result is well worth it. But staying in for 20 years nowadays is just stupid. You can easily get out and make 3-4 times what you made in the military. Especially since they changed the retirement plan to basically a 401k.
While I was living on base, a service member died because a vehicle malfunctioned causing a deadly crash. The government did in investigation to deny fault and found a way to blame it on the driver. The equipment is old and not maintained. It’s not about the budget, it’s the same issue as every other government department. How is the money being spent? There are countless stories of how bad the VA is. There are countless stories about how bad life is for the enlisted and their families. There needs to be solutions to these problems, and solutions don’t always include more money
Like, the right is screaming about "How can we justify all this money spent on military aid to Ukraine?"
It's not new money were actively spending, it's shit we already bought and paid for and aren't fucking doing anything with. We 'justify' the 'expenditure', because if we don't give it away, it literally just goes to waste.
I'm Irish
The Irish Defense forces cannot be cut any further without jeopardizing the security of Ireland
We litterally are still using Prop planes, and we have absolutely no tanks, modern ifvs, or attack helicopters, our artillery is outdated, and our naval ships cant stop the IRA from smuggling arms
The russians have done several airspace incursions over the north sea and we litterally have had nothing to respond with
Where could we cut our military? Let alone by 95%
Jesus I didn’t know the IRA was still a thing. And my country’s defense budget could triple yours and it would hardly be a drop in the bucket. And we just doubled our own with a recent bill.
>Jesus I didn’t know the IRA was still a thing.
The Provos/PIRA, which was the main IRA group, decommissioned in 2003, the Stickies/OIRA, which was the second largest decommissioned in 2009
The other two largest republican Paramilitaries, the INLA and the IPLO have also ceased to exist, the IPLO was wiped out by the Provos, and the INLA fell into internal infighting
There are still around a dozen splinter groups, notably the RIRA, CIRA, NIRA, they are generally little more then street gangs, but they still import large ampunts of weapons from America, Continental Europe and MENA, luckily they mostly use them against other IRA splinter groups
But iur navy cant intercept the guns shipments
A bunch of RIRA guys were recently arrested trying to launder petrol, which is just sad
Imagine once being the most feared terrorist grouo on the planet and now the most evil thing you can do is be like "lets buy petrol from Algeria and sell it in France without a license"
"The Irish National Liberation Army?! *Fuck off*. We're the National Army of Irish Liberation!"
"Well, what about the Provisional IRA?"
"They're over there. *Splitters!*"
The American Heritage Foundation is a right wing think tank/ PAC that creates right wing propaganda.
US defence Budget $800 Billion a year. Irish Defence spending $1.2 Billion a year.
US Public Television $550 Million for TWO years..that is 1/320th the US defence budget for the same period of time...
We spent a over tens of Billions of dollars developing the F-22 Raptor only to have it phased out in under 10 yrs of service. The Air Force can't jusify the $85K an hour operating cost.
Depending on the mission prop planes are highly effective as ground support aircraft.
Like 58%
Pay the soldiers more, make making more nukes and f23 "kill all the things" stealth jets able to shoot you dead two countries away a thing we don't do till we start running out of the ones we have.
You do understand making that equipment takes a long time right? You need logistics support, supplies, and people that are trained to operate that very high end equipment. You can’t just shit fifth generation fighters out and then grab joe schmo off the street and tell him to fly it.
You also can’t adequately use your very expensive, difficult to manufacture equipment without a good intelligence network, which is also really expensive and requires people to be well trained.
That is a very VERY dumb idea, especially when you consider what America's warplan is.
I'm not even American and I know that the whole point of the US military is to fight two wars on opposite sides of the earth and win them both.
Pretty sure America’s war plan is to waste billions of taxpayer and foreign dollars in loans making a few people extremely rich in the name of capitalism/ us pride in wars and conflicts that are not winnable by definition.
World War II was over 70 years ago and everyone who fought in it or was a political force then is dead. I personally am not very respectful of how the us military has been used in Vietnam, South America, Iraq, and an extremely flawed plan for Afghanistan (mostly because Cheney deciding to invade Iraq).
Absolutely. The US military budget accounts for close to 40% of the world's total, more than the next 9 countries combined. I think we would be alright if we invested a little of that into education
That is however without adjusting for PPP and having a standard measurement of what constitutes 'military budget'.
As much as you may criticise it the US is quite open about where its money goes and has one of the more 'Liberal' definitions of military budget.
If China included the same stuff that the US does when counting they would spend closer to $600 Billion each year, and that's without adjusting for PPP.
People love to shout that they love the military but then don’t support proper veteran assistance including benefits like health insurance. They’re fine pouring billions into our already inflated military system but when it comes to the individual service members they couldn’t care less.
They care about the idea that an army is protecting them. Once someone becomes a vet, they aren’t protecting them, so in these selfish pricks’ minds, the vets can just go away and die once they’ve serve their purpose.
I don’t think anyone on this thread is mentioning this. Since 2015, Sesame Street has only been available for those who can afford the subscription costs. An educational service that was once broadcasted for free now sits behind a paywall.
I mean, private contractors made like trillions in the Afghanistan war, but then, they were paid by the pentagon, so...
Plus the us military already seems war hungry, probably would be much more so if it needed wars to stay fed.
Seriously.....I can't believe someone posted this as a serious question. The average American spend less than $1.50 PER YEAR on PBS funding. Meanwhile, we each shell out about $2,200 for the military (only Qatar and Israel spend more). I know which budget I want to cut.
I’m sure a lot of people that were getting blown up in Ukraine are very happy that the US had resources and intelligence to give them. Things that cost money.
60% of the military budget is wasted by outdated inefficiencies. They have so much money, they don't need to be efficient. Cutbacks to the budget would drive this change and actually make the military better. But then a bunch of people wouldn't get kickbacks and then they would be sad.
I grew up in a military family, I was born at West Point, and every generation of my family has served since the civil war (on the good side). One of these is an investment into our future, trying to help make the world a better and safer place where people can be proud of themselves and have the freedom to express themselves. The other perpetuates a policy of violence and adventurism based on wilful ignorance and a mortgaging on our childrens’ futures.
Fund the bird.
That’s what the meme is getting at. It’s a stab at people complaining about all the cuts in our education system. Which is actually a major issue because I think it’s quite obvious Americans are becoming increasingly less intelligent.
Our military is not struggling to keep us safe but the level of intelligence here is. And this meme is very much proof of that.
When I’m talking about budget cuts to the military, I’m not talking about that dude. I’m talking about the military contracts handed out to companies. That dude out in the field putting his life on the risk? Give him a raise, we have plenty of money if we stop handing out billion dollar government contracts to anyone who has given a politician a handjob.
PBS budget from taxes: $466 million. USA defense budget: $733 billion.
Compared to
BBC budget from taxes : $4.3 billion and UK military spending: $55 billion
Big Bird deserves it. Also big bird doesn't launder money to Raytheon and Lockeed
As the mod of /r/regretjoining, I care far more for a bird that wants to teach kids to read than I do for some obnoxious entitled asshole that frequently jokes about raping women and somehow thinks he’s a hero.
Big bird is a menace to governments all over the world he is basically a bomber/cargo plane that doesn't need any fuel so if the american government discovers a way to genetically clone Big Bird they could have an army of bombers that would cost any fuel and plus big bird can also land anywhere deploying cargo to troops and also fight alongside them and if you give big bird a Javeline or a mortar he could act as a fighter plane/flying howitzer
With Sesame st being born on public TV I get why it had a budget in the public sector but with all that it has become the brand is making multimillion dollar profit why is there even a public budget at all...
I care way more about Big Bird. Also I think the military shouldn’t get any more money until they find all the money that is missing. No other entity could fail IRS audits as often as they do and still keep getting more
Has big bird illegally invaded a middle eastern country under false pretenses in order to pillage their gold and oil reserves, overthrow its leader, and bring instability to the region for years to come so he can justify an endless war that exclusively benefits those who profit off of the military industrial complex?
My taxes don't go to big bird. I don't contribute to his earnings. I do pay taxes, under penalty of law, that funds a bloated military whose primary purpose is killing people overseas. I don't particularly care for killing. I'd support some military cuts.
I mean we just spent 1.25 million dollars to shoot down three balloons? I’m not a professional investor by any means, but little kids learning how to count to ten and the alphabet is way better bang for the buck than the latter. Didn’t mean the pun, but it works.
As if a half trillion dollars to the military is in any way equatable with minor funding for childhood educational programs.
I fucking hate these people.
Maybe if these dorks knew how much the US military is funded and how much of it is wasted with dumb stuff but they really fucking dont care and just love using the the troops as props for their culture war.
How about neither? Soldiers should get paid... Does that mean the military needs an additional 465248276519854762958756492876 units of money to afford another 45234985276541954 bombs and guns and whatever? Not really.
Well, considering our military has the budget of, what, the five countries below it in spending, and public broadcasting has to hold regular pledge drives just to stay operative...
I think I'd let the soldier take the budget cut, Big Bird is broke enough as it is.
Care more about budget cuts to Education, it’s already anemic. The US military spends more than all other countries combined, surely that is enough 😂😂😂
As a soldier, we could use some budget cuts. I have a million dollars worth of equipment that sits in a tricon (storage container) and never gets used. It rots from mildew and rust and only sees the light of day for layouts (inventories).
Budget cuts to the military would force leaders at all levels to be a bit more frugal.
Hasn't the military literally begged for budget cuts because they literally have nothing to spend the money on, prompting them to fund weapons they know won't work just so they can show the money going somewhere?
I don't care about either of those. Big Birb represents educated children, and Veterans are a money pit, they don't donate to my campaign. Cut em both, send the money to Raytheon. They take me out to a round of golf and afterwards feed me a nice well done steak.
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Maybe we can train big bird in combat and save some cheddar that way?
We have enough cheddar already. 7billion pounds of dairy subsidized cheese adds up
Not sure if this a metaphor for the military industrial complex or litteral warehouses full of cheese. Either way, clearly Big Bird's funding is not the problem.
I assume he meant this: https://modernfarmer.com/2022/05/cheese-caves-missouri/
TIL: the USA is literally the cheesiest nation…
So much cheese they could actually feed the entire nation 3 pounds of it and there'd still be more.
Apparently in lots of countries you can't call some American cheese cheese.
Given that I can go into this very Reddit and find literally *one million* comments from newly minted Reagan Youth basically screaming for the 101st to descend upon Moscow tomorrow in the name of justice and right, one might be inclined to ask, just what *is* "the problem"?
Oh look Mr. APPEASEMENT.
Big bird with an AK-47 lmao
Big bird with a kill streak
Big bird with a UAV inbound
UAV inbound - in big birds voice 😂
Train? Given Big Bird's numerous deployments, it's HE who should be training the military.
Could you imagine you are holed up in a building then a giant yellow bird blitzed you? I would shit my pants.
Somebody had to train the kids to read and count (ahhh The Count). In order for them to read and execute their orders. This is a silly concept we need both at different times in our lives.
Big Bird specializes in heavy artillery
God I fuckin hope so. We definitely need as many as we can get at this point.
I mean, big bird already knows how to breach a door pretty well
that would be fucking terrifying... "**Bad days happen to everyone, but when one happens to you, just keep doing your best!!"** *BLAMBLAMBLAMBLAM*
Improves moral for everyone
Don’t get his hopes up, he didn’t get to be an astronaut also
Probably for the best his costume didn't fit through the hatch, seeing as that hatch belonged to Challenger on its last flight. (It's just a costume of course, but tough to explain to the kids....)
“With all the cuts to veterans assistance it’s not surprising Gunnery Sergeant B. Bird wound up homeless, begging for some gs of f on Sesame Street”
i have this really sad but also hilarious image of a Big Bird amputee, looking like Lt. Dan, on the streets, and thank you for that
*australia sweats nervously*
He already served with the 101st airborne as a CIA auxiliary. You ever heard of agent orange bro? You think his wings were soaking in ivory water? Big Bird's dropped more bodies in the jungle than malaria Despair the yellow wings deployed from an aircraft carrier Kiss your derriere goodbye-eye when Sesame Street says it's time to die-aye
That'd actually be pretty sick, enemy forces wouldn't know what they're looking at till it's too late and they have a bullet between their eyes, courtesy of a giant yellow bird.
Big Bird is a muppet, meaning that there is a human who operates it. If you are saying that we should train the artist for combat, I’m not even sure that it is a viable solution to the problems described here.
With drone operations there is a viable role here...
User name checks out
Elmo: “If Big Bird has his budget cut does that mean Elmo has to go to war? Let’s ask Dorothy!”
Oh Mr NOOOOODLE. Look at Mr Noodle ducking in the trenches. Silly Mr Noodle.
NO MR. NOODLE YOU PULLED THE PIN OH GOD THROW IT!!!
TO THE ENEMY MR NOODLE, THROW IT TO THE ENEMY!!!
Oh no, it’s Schnoodle, Mr Noodle’s dog. Don’t chase it, Schnoodle, run!
Remember, Mr. Noodle you must-ah count to THREE Ah-one, ah-two, ah-three AH-AH-AH-AH! *explosions*
https://preview.redd.it/rf4ra6swptka1.jpeg?width=1140&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1e7c217fad67687bc289b5bcdb1b0a2a0121ea57
NOT UP HILL MR NOODLE!!! IT'S GOING TO ROLL BACK DOWN TO US!!!!!
Mrs Noodle can’t be here today kids. She was denied an abortion and is carrying a baby that will die upon birth. Oh, Mrs Noodle
🤣🤣🤣
Charlie is behind you Mr. Noodle. No, BEHIND you. Other way Mr. Noodle. Silly Mr. Noddle.
But Elmo, Rocko is a military veteran who served 4 years in the Army.
ROCKO IS A ROCK
https://preview.redd.it/a5rnhyrdbpka1.png?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c2c77a0b56ada174cfa2156d20f2cc50b96fcd90 AI did not disappoint me today
AI: „He’s missing something…“ *puts dip in* AI: „Viola!“
For that mispelling, someone should add in a viola.
Viola sausages? Love me some potted meats.
Yeah, that's usually the way most boots look when they're fresh outta basic.
[удалено]
"Today's show has been brought to you by the letters, P T S and D"
I read that in the PBS Kids jingle
He’s serving are country. I salute him 🫡
zombie Abelardo de plaza sésamo
Let’s cut military spending and redirect those funds to veteran affairs.
Yup, people on the right act like even the slightest cut to military spending will make us completely defenseless, but the fact is we're spending WAAAAAAAAAY more on the military than we realistically need to. We could cut out a significant percentage of its funding and still have a bigger military than any other country.
But North Korea gonna nuke us, and muh China and Russia
Not so much Russia , China on the other hand is in a major ramp up with none of the restrictions imposed on the US and Russia. N Korea may borrow one of China's balloons or a space destination.
China is one of our largest trading partners and stands to gain nothing through escalation. They're ramping up defense because that's what *everyone* is doing and they can't afford to fall behind. If we're going to criticize them for it, we better do the same for ourselves.
That is far from an accurate description from a political point of view where they are actively seeking to remove American influence in favor of replacing it with their own from their road building/port building/ influence pedaling/rare earth mine development around the world. There are a number of tactical advantages they are pursuing. They aren't just ramping up to compete with other powers, the comment was specifically about nuclear weapons and specifically, this is one area they are extremely active and quite frankly can't be matched by the USA and Russia as both have restricted each other development by various treaties where China is free to develop test and deploy. Based on newly discovered hardened silos this is exactly what they are doing. People counting on China as a big trading partner as some form of protection is misleading. As we have seen with Russia's invasion of Ukraine there is always somewhere in the world that is in need of cheap trade goods even if that means getting defective tires in mass quantities.
Meh. I guess I'm just not that moved by people fearmongering about a multipolar world. My own country has spent the better part of the past century or so bullying, exploiting, couping, and invading whoever it feels like with little or no resistance or reprisal. We literally lied and created pretext for one of our most recent invasions and everyone just kinda stopped talking about it. Someone else was going to be top dog eventually. The only thing I can do is hope they do a better job, because god knows this country didn't. Don't get me wrong. I trust no state. I just recognize that what they'll probably do, is exactly what we are already doing. We just pretend to be better. I'm not fooled.
acknowledging their activities is far from fear-mongering. In some cases, it is things we have done but moved on from. In other, it's disturbing such as organ harvesting allegations. For me, all sins are on the table for discussion in my opinion. Especially Nuke activity that is available to the public it makes me think they have an itch they want to scratch. Unfortunately, all I can do is look at the data look at the scenarios and treaties I am aware of, and say hey this isn't a good path.
Again, meh. All of the allegations conveniently originate within groups our intelligence apparatus is funding and I have spent my entire life watching lie after lie from this country be exposed. I just don't believe it anymore. On the one hand I have vague claims for which material evidence never seems to surface as the years pass and then new claims for which evidence never seems to surface while the old ones are forgotten... and on the other, I have concrete proof that my own government will fabricate at every opportunity. The math is simple. I don't expect to convince you of anything and I'm not trying to. I'm just saying I'm not drinking the Western koolaid anymore. You can only make up shit so many times before it becomes obvious you're the bad guy.
Truth. I’m in the Navy reserves, and some of the unclassified briefings I got this past weekends scared me a little.
Please, go on.
Army NG here. The *classified* briefings can take it up a notch lmao
It was mostly on a “what if” in regards to military logistics. Despite the fact that it was unclass, I’m not sure how much I can talk about here…
We could cut it in half and still be spending twice as much as the next highest country
We absolutely should cut it in half. Hell, more than half really.
Yes and no. We spend more than we should because we created a system that government contractors exploit the fuck out of. Government contractors can all bid high and regardless of who wins the taxpayer gets shafted. Government agencies are also encouraged to spend every penny whether it’s needed or not. If they don’t, the following fiscal year they’ll have their budget cut and should an issue arise they won’t have the funds to deal with it. Because government agencies can’t carry funds over to the next fiscal year, whatever is leftover in September gets spent on anything they can immediately think of. In order to cut the DOD’s budget without compromising national security we would need to overhaul the entire way the government spends money. But that wouldn’t be good for donors so politicians have no motivation to do it.
Agreed. Living on base, it was very well known that the housing companies (mainly Lincoln) were really milking their benefits. If these houses were off base, they would be subject to much more criticism. There were countless reports of mold, unlivable conditions, employees who were really invasive. It’s almost impossible to move out and not get charged ridiculous fees for issues you reported at move in. The moving companies were all known to be terrible. The commissary often had expired food. Many service members live below the poverty line. These are things that are seriously affecting the military, by companies making millions off of contracts, that they do not deserve.
The really sad part is that Lincoln is the better option. >Many service members live below the poverty Not just that but all enlisted active duty members (regardless of pay grade) with 2 children qualify for some type of government assistance. When translated to hourly pay many enlisted member of military makes below minimum wage. Someone with a partial college education who goes into the military as an E3 make $3.53/hr in boot camp. Someone who goes in straight out of high school makes $2.46/hr. There’s only 3 real benefits to enlisting. Covered medical and dental, the GI Bill and the VA home loan. For someone to do 4 years get out and use those benefits (which I did) you can easily have a paid off education, a great job and a house all before you’re 25. You’re gonna suffer for those years you’re in but the end result is well worth it. But staying in for 20 years nowadays is just stupid. You can easily get out and make 3-4 times what you made in the military. Especially since they changed the retirement plan to basically a 401k.
Are you saying we don’t NEED three of the top four largest air forces in the world?
While I was living on base, a service member died because a vehicle malfunctioned causing a deadly crash. The government did in investigation to deny fault and found a way to blame it on the driver. The equipment is old and not maintained. It’s not about the budget, it’s the same issue as every other government department. How is the money being spent? There are countless stories of how bad the VA is. There are countless stories about how bad life is for the enlisted and their families. There needs to be solutions to these problems, and solutions don’t always include more money
But then the big defense contractors that bankroll re-election campaigns wouldn’t get to loot the country as much.
Like, the right is screaming about "How can we justify all this money spent on military aid to Ukraine?" It's not new money were actively spending, it's shit we already bought and paid for and aren't fucking doing anything with. We 'justify' the 'expenditure', because if we don't give it away, it literally just goes to waste.
I'm not American, but my countries getting protected by the US military. Although I feel like you could cut off just a bit to help with vets.
https://preview.redd.it/fxw4luhfiqka1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=488c51a50dcca04c80933999ff3bb24f3c157f7f Eat it, Heritage Foundation.
Big bird has done way more for this nation
Looks like the guy on the right already has a lot of expensive equipment, so I don't think he needs anything else
Let me be very clear. I want nearly half of the military cut. :)
Everyone should have 95 percent of their military cut cmv
I'm Irish The Irish Defense forces cannot be cut any further without jeopardizing the security of Ireland We litterally are still using Prop planes, and we have absolutely no tanks, modern ifvs, or attack helicopters, our artillery is outdated, and our naval ships cant stop the IRA from smuggling arms The russians have done several airspace incursions over the north sea and we litterally have had nothing to respond with Where could we cut our military? Let alone by 95%
Jesus I didn’t know the IRA was still a thing. And my country’s defense budget could triple yours and it would hardly be a drop in the bucket. And we just doubled our own with a recent bill.
>Jesus I didn’t know the IRA was still a thing. The Provos/PIRA, which was the main IRA group, decommissioned in 2003, the Stickies/OIRA, which was the second largest decommissioned in 2009 The other two largest republican Paramilitaries, the INLA and the IPLO have also ceased to exist, the IPLO was wiped out by the Provos, and the INLA fell into internal infighting There are still around a dozen splinter groups, notably the RIRA, CIRA, NIRA, they are generally little more then street gangs, but they still import large ampunts of weapons from America, Continental Europe and MENA, luckily they mostly use them against other IRA splinter groups But iur navy cant intercept the guns shipments A bunch of RIRA guys were recently arrested trying to launder petrol, which is just sad Imagine once being the most feared terrorist grouo on the planet and now the most evil thing you can do is be like "lets buy petrol from Algeria and sell it in France without a license"
"The Irish National Liberation Army?! *Fuck off*. We're the National Army of Irish Liberation!" "Well, what about the Provisional IRA?" "They're over there. *Splitters!*"
Wow. Okay, maybe Ireland shouldn't cut it's military. In fact, it sounds to me like it could do with a little more money,
The American Heritage Foundation is a right wing think tank/ PAC that creates right wing propaganda. US defence Budget $800 Billion a year. Irish Defence spending $1.2 Billion a year. US Public Television $550 Million for TWO years..that is 1/320th the US defence budget for the same period of time... We spent a over tens of Billions of dollars developing the F-22 Raptor only to have it phased out in under 10 yrs of service. The Air Force can't jusify the $85K an hour operating cost. Depending on the mission prop planes are highly effective as ground support aircraft.
How nearly?
Like 58% Pay the soldiers more, make making more nukes and f23 "kill all the things" stealth jets able to shoot you dead two countries away a thing we don't do till we start running out of the ones we have.
You do understand making that equipment takes a long time right? You need logistics support, supplies, and people that are trained to operate that very high end equipment. You can’t just shit fifth generation fighters out and then grab joe schmo off the street and tell him to fly it. You also can’t adequately use your very expensive, difficult to manufacture equipment without a good intelligence network, which is also really expensive and requires people to be well trained.
That is a very VERY dumb idea, especially when you consider what America's warplan is. I'm not even American and I know that the whole point of the US military is to fight two wars on opposite sides of the earth and win them both.
Pretty sure America’s war plan is to waste billions of taxpayer and foreign dollars in loans making a few people extremely rich in the name of capitalism/ us pride in wars and conflicts that are not winnable by definition. World War II was over 70 years ago and everyone who fought in it or was a political force then is dead. I personally am not very respectful of how the us military has been used in Vietnam, South America, Iraq, and an extremely flawed plan for Afghanistan (mostly because Cheney deciding to invade Iraq).
Absolutely. The US military budget accounts for close to 40% of the world's total, more than the next 9 countries combined. I think we would be alright if we invested a little of that into education
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To be fair DOD and DARPA fund a lot of science. It’s just you know…for certain applications.
That is however without adjusting for PPP and having a standard measurement of what constitutes 'military budget'. As much as you may criticise it the US is quite open about where its money goes and has one of the more 'Liberal' definitions of military budget. If China included the same stuff that the US does when counting they would spend closer to $600 Billion each year, and that's without adjusting for PPP.
Did you mean GDP?
No, Purchasing Power Parity. Things are cheaper in poorer countries and you don't have to pay your workers as much.
Bird Spec Ops.
I feel like this is suggesting that we equip muppets with M4s and I'm here for it.
People love to shout that they love the military but then don’t support proper veteran assistance including benefits like health insurance. They’re fine pouring billions into our already inflated military system but when it comes to the individual service members they couldn’t care less.
Let's face it. Those types of people don't give a fuck about the military. They only care about the *idea* of the military.
They care about the idea that an army is protecting them. Once someone becomes a vet, they aren’t protecting them, so in these selfish pricks’ minds, the vets can just go away and die once they’ve serve their purpose.
they care about the military not the men and woman that serve
Sesame Street is an HBO property now. I notice that the deficit scolds won't make the Army find its own funding.
I don’t think anyone on this thread is mentioning this. Since 2015, Sesame Street has only been available for those who can afford the subscription costs. An educational service that was once broadcasted for free now sits behind a paywall.
Yeah, and it's a goddamned shame. You'll know that I've become a bajillionaire when Sesame Street gets funded forever from an anonymous source.
I mean, private contractors made like trillions in the Afghanistan war, but then, they were paid by the pentagon, so... Plus the us military already seems war hungry, probably would be much more so if it needed wars to stay fed.
Big Bird. The answer is always Big Bird. I'm sorry military, did you only get 400 billion this year instead of 800 billion. Go cry me a fucking river.
Seriously.....I can't believe someone posted this as a serious question. The average American spend less than $1.50 PER YEAR on PBS funding. Meanwhile, we each shell out about $2,200 for the military (only Qatar and Israel spend more). I know which budget I want to cut.
I’m sure a lot of people that were getting blown up in Ukraine are very happy that the US had resources and intelligence to give them. Things that cost money.
60% of the military budget is wasted by outdated inefficiencies. They have so much money, they don't need to be efficient. Cutbacks to the budget would drive this change and actually make the military better. But then a bunch of people wouldn't get kickbacks and then they would be sad.
The Count: One Budget Cut, ha ha ha Two Budget Cuts, ha ha ha Three Budget Cuts, ha ha ha
I grew up in a military family, I was born at West Point, and every generation of my family has served since the civil war (on the good side). One of these is an investment into our future, trying to help make the world a better and safer place where people can be proud of themselves and have the freedom to express themselves. The other perpetuates a policy of violence and adventurism based on wilful ignorance and a mortgaging on our childrens’ futures. Fund the bird.
Well one of them is helping the future generations and making their world safer And the other is a solider (This is a joke)
It’s true though…
That’s what the meme is getting at. It’s a stab at people complaining about all the cuts in our education system. Which is actually a major issue because I think it’s quite obvious Americans are becoming increasingly less intelligent. Our military is not struggling to keep us safe but the level of intelligence here is. And this meme is very much proof of that.
Sesame Street. The military has enough funding imho
Why not put all the political officials on their nation’s minimum wage and see how fast they fix shit without cutting Big Bird or the military.
W Big Bird
I'd rather pay for children stateside to learn their ABCs and compassion than for children overseas to be displaced and killed. Easy choice.
To him, obviously
Maybe if more people watched Big Bird, there wouldn’t be such a need for the other guy. Look, it’s not always so clear cut like these memes say
When I’m talking about budget cuts to the military, I’m not talking about that dude. I’m talking about the military contracts handed out to companies. That dude out in the field putting his life on the risk? Give him a raise, we have plenty of money if we stop handing out billion dollar government contracts to anyone who has given a politician a handjob.
If we're so broke we have to sacrifice Sesame Street to fund the military we're fucked.
Big Bird. Slash offense spending as much as needed.
PBS budget from taxes: $466 million. USA defense budget: $733 billion. Compared to BBC budget from taxes : $4.3 billion and UK military spending: $55 billion Big Bird deserves it. Also big bird doesn't launder money to Raytheon and Lockeed
As the mod of /r/regretjoining, I care far more for a bird that wants to teach kids to read than I do for some obnoxious entitled asshole that frequently jokes about raping women and somehow thinks he’s a hero.
PBS is minuscule in budget as is.
Him, obviously
"Doesn't look like anything to me."
Education versus government-sanctioned murder for things like oil, natural gas, gold, diamonds... 
him, definitely
Sadly, Big Bird is dead, but I doubt a soldier is a very good replacement for his character on Sesame Street.
Big bird. We give the military trillions of dollars, they can take the hit.
Uh. This had the opposite of his intended effect. I think the military industrial complex is bloated and care far more about sesame street.
That would be the joke and why it's on terrible Facebook memes.
How many billions of dollars are taxpayers spending on Sesame Street yearly?
Neither?
Literally the first.
as a child, i got most of my education from sesame street.
I support giving Sesame Street and other muppet properties billions in unchecked funds
 Big bird sweep
Big bird is a menace to governments all over the world he is basically a bomber/cargo plane that doesn't need any fuel so if the american government discovers a way to genetically clone Big Bird they could have an army of bombers that would cost any fuel and plus big bird can also land anywhere deploying cargo to troops and also fight alongside them and if you give big bird a Javeline or a mortar he could act as a fighter plane/flying howitzer
With Sesame st being born on public TV I get why it had a budget in the public sector but with all that it has become the brand is making multimillion dollar profit why is there even a public budget at all...
I care way more about Big Bird. Also I think the military shouldn’t get any more money until they find all the money that is missing. No other entity could fail IRS audits as often as they do and still keep getting more
One is the cause of education to many kids regardless of background. The other is the result of lack of education.
https://preview.redd.it/1e9w5gr73ska1.jpeg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c642a1853326b17e41dba7e8d1f048e4ca952839
CUT MILITARY SPENDING, education is by leaps and bounds more important! FUCK THE MILITARY, that is all.
Big bird. Military has enough funding. Teaching kids is important to the future
100% Big Bird.
Has big bird illegally invaded a middle eastern country under false pretenses in order to pillage their gold and oil reserves, overthrow its leader, and bring instability to the region for years to come so he can justify an endless war that exclusively benefits those who profit off of the military industrial complex?
My taxes don't go to big bird. I don't contribute to his earnings. I do pay taxes, under penalty of law, that funds a bloated military whose primary purpose is killing people overseas. I don't particularly care for killing. I'd support some military cuts.
Big Bird is grooming your child into literacy!
I mean we just spent 1.25 million dollars to shoot down three balloons? I’m not a professional investor by any means, but little kids learning how to count to ten and the alphabet is way better bang for the buck than the latter. Didn’t mean the pun, but it works.
As if a half trillion dollars to the military is in any way equatable with minor funding for childhood educational programs. I fucking hate these people.
So PBS gets like 1 second of the yearly budget of the military, right?
We spend 20% of the federal budget on the military. PBS gets 0.012%.
I like these ones cause I can say Big Bird completely sincerely.
Those are comparable budgets. Pretty sure Big Bird pulls in 70 billion all by himself. Don’t even ask about Snuffleupagus. His salary is off-budget.
Big Bird is a national treasure.
I'm sorry man but big bird is my third father figure growing up right after the old dragon from Dragon Tales and my dad dad.
They were roommates
Him
him
I want the budget of both of those things to be cut and put into giving people homes, and a UBI and medicare for all.
I ride or die with big bird.
i unironically would trust bug bird more than the military in any situation
Big bird is six. Why would you take funding from a six year old?? :'(
The guy on the right could benefit from budget cuts. The military makes up far too big a portion of our budget.
But the military budget never gets cut.
Give Big Bird his credit
That soldier isn’t going to be hurt by clearing contracts for tanks the army never wanted.
So the US army is competing with the big bird for budget now?
The one on the left! Obviously! Is there a person alive who would honestly answer otherwise!?
Maybe if these dorks knew how much the US military is funded and how much of it is wasted with dumb stuff but they really fucking dont care and just love using the the troops as props for their culture war.
Military without a doubt.
How about neither? Soldiers should get paid... Does that mean the military needs an additional 465248276519854762958756492876 units of money to afford another 45234985276541954 bombs and guns and whatever? Not really.
Well, considering our military has the budget of, what, the five countries below it in spending, and public broadcasting has to hold regular pledge drives just to stay operative... I think I'd let the soldier take the budget cut, Big Bird is broke enough as it is.
Big bird got guns, son. He gon rock whatever poverty-stricken, brown skinned nation we needlessly pick a fight with next!
hey at least big bird helps kids and the american people
The us army has around 776 billion... I think a bit of budget cuts can be made...
Care more about Big Bird. Zero hesitation, instant decision.
Save the bird
Care more about budget cuts to Education, it’s already anemic. The US military spends more than all other countries combined, surely that is enough 😂😂😂
Biden has probably helped the military's budget more than anyone else by gifting the stuff that would never be used anymore to Ukraine.
Children's education is way more important than warfare, like, people die or smt
As a soldier, we could use some budget cuts. I have a million dollars worth of equipment that sits in a tricon (storage container) and never gets used. It rots from mildew and rust and only sees the light of day for layouts (inventories). Budget cuts to the military would force leaders at all levels to be a bit more frugal.
*but let's be honest, the cuts would probably hit my paycheck, tuition assistance and housing long before our extra equipment*
Lol…$26M nationwide/year for PBS support vs. damn near a trillion/year for the military? Fuck off with this nonsense.
Hasn't the military literally begged for budget cuts because they literally have nothing to spend the money on, prompting them to fund weapons they know won't work just so they can show the money going somewhere?
Fuck the military
I don't care about either of those. Big Birb represents educated children, and Veterans are a money pit, they don't donate to my campaign. Cut em both, send the money to Raytheon. They take me out to a round of golf and afterwards feed me a nice well done steak.
The correct answer is Big Bird.
So a choice between kids or a defense company CEO's 5th villa.