American Celestial Master

Chapter 227, Budget

Just as the federal government's secret plan is advancing in full swing, the federal government's annual wrangling is about to begin again. The big deal is that the federal government has to submit a budget for the next fiscal year to Congress. Considering the changes in the situation in the United States and the world, the U.S. government's expenditures will definitely change dramatically in the next fiscal year. Some original plans no longer meet current needs. Logically speaking, these plans and projects should definitely be chopped off. On the other hand, the new situation has created new needs and requires new response plans, and this is absolutely inseparable from funding.

However, those projects that no longer meet the needs of the current situation are not so easy to cut. After all, this matter is "the food and clothing for millions of workers" and involves the economic interests of a large number of people. If these people only It's okay if they are just "cattle workers", but these people are often very energetic, so these projects are really difficult to cut.

For example, the "Kennedy" aircraft carrier and the "Enterprise" aircraft carrier on the slipway of the US Navy have almost lost their original significance under today's circumstances. In addition, the large number of nuclear submarines in the U.S. Navy, whether they are Seawolf, Virginia, Ohio or Columbia, are no longer able to go to sea - it is more dangerous below the sea than on the sea. The Navy has already lost contact with several SSNs and SSBNs. The rest have also stopped cruising and deploying indefinitely. Another example is that the strategic bombers of the U.S. Air Force, especially the most advanced B-21 bombers, are almost useless against the biggest threats facing the United States. However, the various artillery guns of the Army are of suitable power. , and much faster response times, making it more useful.

Therefore, it stands to reason that these things should be cut and funds should be spent on projects that truly meet current needs. But cutting off the funding for first- and second-class people and giving it to third-class people? Even if the Navy and Air Force agree, Boeing and Lockheed Martin do not.

Although the Columbia-class nuclear submarine plan will definitely be cancelled, the Navy has a new plan. Well, the Navy took the disaster that occurred in South Korea as an example and proposed that the harm caused by sea monsters is much higher than most dangers on land.

"So far, all the monsters we have discovered that can cause natural disasters are at sea. Compared with these monsters. Compared with the things that appear on land today, including those demons pretending to be angels, compared with these monsters at sea , all like harmless little white rabbits. Yes, there is no record of these things taking the initiative to come ashore to launch attacks, but we cannot let down our vigilance because of this.

This is just like although no country, including us, has ever used a nuclear weapon since the last war until now, the reciprocal deterrence and prevention of the other party's nuclear weapons must not be diminished. If we had saved all the money spent on nuclear weapons during the Cold War, the Cold War would probably have turned into a hot war, with temperatures as high as 100 million degrees.

So now, the construction of the navy can be adjusted, but the importance of the navy has never declined - for the United States, the real life-and-death threats mainly come from the sea! "

To this end, the Navy has proposed a lot of corresponding plans, such as a brand-new blue-green laser ocean monitoring satellite system composed of nearly 10,000 satellites. For example, research plans for various sea monsters, including marine Strange baits and the like... In short, it really goes as they say, and all the expenditures of the entire federal government are not enough for them.

The first-class people have a lot of plans here, and the second-class people can't show weakness, but currently their heroes are indeed useless. Their bombers and fighter jets that are used to fight other countries are not very useful now. . But this also gave them a new direction - since these things are no longer useful, of course they must quickly replace them with something useful. For example, there are a large number of expendable unmanned combat aircraft controlled by low-orbit satellites, for example... In short, the money that second-class people want to spend is no less than that of first-class people.

As for the third-class people, of course they also hurriedly showed their merits and asked for more funding so that they could update their artillery systems.

"The U.S. Army has too few artillery. The number of our self-propelled artillery cannot even catch up with South Korea. How can this be done? In today's situation, when it comes to rapid response, no weapon can react faster than a cannon. In order to ensure To suppress known and possible dangers in the future, we need at least 155 52-caliber cannons, and they must be capable of rapid maneuverability, 52 times the caliber, use conventional artillery shells, and the maximum range can exceed 155 kilometers. . Only in this way can we ensure that in most important areas, if anything happens, we can drop artillery shells on the heads of those things within half an hour. Yes, we can do without self-propelled artillery, we do not need armor , so we have a plan for a x caliber mm truck gun..."

For this plan, the third-class people also need a lot of money. Taking into account the additional soldiers and supporting facilities they need, the total cost is no less than that of the first- and second-class people.

Only the fourth class people have proposed their own new plans, but even they themselves do not believe that their plans can be supported.

But the problem is that the federal government simply doesn’t have that much money, and it’s impossible for Congress to approve so much money. In fact, some state senators and representatives strongly demand that the federal government’s spending be reduced so that money can be freed up for states. For use by the National Guard. Yes, most states feel that federal troops are not as useful as their own National Guards. When something really happens, the National Guards in each state generally perform better than the federal army because they are indeed protecting their hometowns. People in each state also trust the National Guard more.

There are also some states that feel that they pay more taxes than other states, but the federal army does not provide them with special protection-in this case, why do they still support the federal army? Wouldn't it be better to pay for your own National Guard?

Some states that are not close to the sea feel that spending money on those first-class people will not benefit them at all. Spending money on second- and third-class people is not as good as spending it directly on your own National Guard. Therefore, whether it is the Donkey Party or the Elephant Party, there are a lot of congressmen who hope to cut off the federal military military expenditures at the ankles so as to free up money to strengthen the National Guard.

In short, this budget dispute, in a sense, has begun to show the separatist tendencies of the states. If the federal government fails to produce any decent results in the next period of time, I am afraid that this tendency of the states will become more obvious.

(End of this chapter)