The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 859 Struggle of Interests
The US military was praised right away, like national heroes.

But it wasn't long before the US military was criticized all over.

There are even people here who accuse the injured American soldiers of cutting or beating themselves just to get pensions and retire.

'Schwarzkopf', the commander, has been removed from his post.

Then it’s time to cut military spending, reduce government spending and reduce debt.

Although Bush did not borrow much, Reagan borrowed on a large scale, which made the scale of US debt so large that it was a headache.

The interest rates on the debts borrowed during Reagan's time were very high, and double-digit interest rates were normal for U.S. debts.

This also means that when it comes to repaying the debt now, a large proportion of the government’s annual revenue is used to pay interest on U.S. debt and repay maturing U.S. debt.

The US military expenditure is huge, so it was naturally targeted and became the first choice to be cut.

This year alone, the military budget of $2910.86 billion submitted by the military was cut by more than $800 billion, and military spending dropped to $2099.03 billion, a direct cut of 27.89%.

This made the US military very dissatisfied. Military spending has always been increasing and never decreasing, but now so much has been cut. How can they purchase equipment and ammunition, improve the welfare of US troops, and maintain their huge naval bases?

But now, both the top and the bottom are making special approval of the Reagan era. Before the Reagan era, the military expenditure was 1339.95 billion US dollars. At the end of the Reagan era, the US military expenditure reached 3035.59 billion US dollars, more than doubling.

And that was just eight years!

In the past decade or so, the US military has spent an additional $14452 billion on military spending.

If all this money had been used for economic development, the US economy would not be like this.

William's duty is to suppress the increase in military spending and prevent the military from resorting to foreign military action without prior approval.

It's really the military that's going too far, always doing things that are unimaginable.

For example, against some small countries, it is obviously easy to win, but in the end a huge amount of military expenditure is always spent.

It seems that the U.S. military no longer exists to win wars, but to spend military funds and spend dollars for a mission.

And yet, over the years, there has not been any exciting and satisfying battle.

If this is the case, why does the US military need so much military spending?

What William and his colleagues need to do is to reduce military spending to around 1300 billion US dollars, or even lower, in two years.

As for NATO and its allies, European NATO countries should increase military spending and increase the proportion of military in GDP, rather than the United States taking the lion's share and bearing the full cost.

The United States is clearly the savior, Europe's savior, and Europe's hero. But how come the United States has now become a bodyguard hired by Europe to guard the door?

Moreover, with the establishment of the European Union, the differences between Europe and the United States have further increased.

In fact, many things go against the United States.

Now Germany is actually going to pay for the construction of the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline and the Nord Stream oil pipeline to increase the import of natural gas and oil from the polar bear to supply the whole of Europe.

Even in the European media, there is a voice saying that Europe and polar bears are not mortal enemies. The two sides have strong complementarity. Europe needs the polar bears' vast market, their raw materials, and their oil and natural gas.

This is simply outrageous! As for an island airport, does it matter whether it is a civilian airport or a military airport?

Not important at all!
In William's view, it was just an excuse for the military to increase military spending.

Liu Tao was on Qiong Island at this time.

By now, Qiongdao Island has stabilized after experiencing the initial panic.

Panshan Group took over all the projects. Some of the unfinished buildings continued to be built, some have been completed, and some of the shoddy projects were demolished and rebuilt.

The reconstruction of the project created a large number of jobs, allowing the people of Qiongdao to have jobs and they did not feel as if the sky was falling at the beginning.

At this time, they were holding a meeting.

This is the latest overall planning design for the entire Qiongdao Island.

The projector projected a huge map of Qiongdao Island on the wall, with a plan rendering on it.

The chief planning engineer is giving an introduction.

From the perspective of ports, according to the demand in the next 30 years, they are divided into extra-large ports, large ports, medium-sized ports and small ports. The annual throughput of each port is determined, and then a part of the land is reserved for expansion.

According to their uses, they are divided into commercial ports, military ports, fishing ports, industrial ports and safe havens, and the purpose of each port is very clear.

For example, the military port is planned in conjunction with the future of the Navy’s South China Sea Fleet, and the construction funds are also provided by the Navy.

A commercial port is a port for merchant ships to dock and handle passenger and cargo transportation. It has all the equipment and conditions required for docking ships, loading and unloading passengers and cargo, supplying fuel and other supplies, and repairing ships. Originally, Panshan Group built some ports, and more ports were developed by Qiongdao and related investors. But now Qiongdao has no money and the investors have all run away, so all these ports have been taken over by Panshan Group.

Among them, there are comprehensive ports and professional ports, such as oil ports.

Qiongdao's natural gas and oil have to be transported by sea, which naturally requires a professional port.

Then there is the road planning. A ring expressway will be built around the island, and then three horizontal expressways will basically cover the main places of Qiongdao. The rest will be composed of provincial roads and county roads, thus covering the road traffic network of the entire Qiongdao.

The ring-island expressway and three transverse expressways total 1200 kilometers, which were invested by Panshan Group.

The provincial roads are invested and constructed by Qiongdao, while the county roads are invested and constructed by various cities and counties.

In addition to road planning, there are also plans for various functional areas, including primary ecological functional areas, secondary ecological functional areas, development functional areas, and other land uses. The primary ecological functional area is 11535 square kilometers, accounting for 33.6% of the land area. This is the ecological red line area, which refers to an area that is strictly controlled by the ecological protection red line and rigidly constrained.

The secondary ecological functional zone is an area where ecological indicators are controlled. It is not only a production space for agriculture and forestry, but also an important ecological space. This area reaches 15984 square kilometers, accounting for 46.4% of the land area of ​​Qiongdao Island.

The development functional area, which is where Qiongdao is actually developing, covers a total of 3571 square kilometers, accounting for 10.4% of Qiongdao's land area. There is no industrial development zone in the development functional area, and all of it is centered around tourism and shopping. After all, Qiongdao's future positioning is to focus on tourism and shopping, supplemented by tropical agriculture and forestry.

In the next 3000 years, Panshan Group will invest a total of billion yuan in Qiongdao. Of course, this does not mean that Panshan Group will continue to invest, but it means that in the next years, Panshan Group will not withdraw profits from Qiongdao, and all profits will remain in Qiongdao for investment.

The 3000 billion yuan is just an estimate.

A space center area has even been built in Wenchang, and space tourism will be developed with the Wenchang Space Center as the core.

　I will resume updating tomorrow, and will update at least three more chapters tomorrow.

　　I have been busy recently and can only keep updating on a basic level. Sorry. I will resume updating tomorrow!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)