One small nitpick
"Do we really need 11 carrier strike groups …when no other country has more than one?"
The "when no other country" argument is a deliberate red herring. It is irrelevant how many carriers anybody else has. The American strategic imperative is that of expeditionary capability: we don't sit around waiting for things to happen, we go forward and get involved in things, which requires portable capability. One cannot rely on basing arrangements alone, since political attitudes change from time to time. See Turkey, 2003, if anybody doubts that, or "good bye" from President Aquino in the Early 1990's.
Until the stratego-political complex agrees how many options they want to no longer have, at complexity levels from deterring war to full blown conflict, one has to have X capability resident. The XXIth century is a
come as you are environment, particularly in the maritime arena. If you don't have the round in the clip, you won't get resupply before the fight is over.
That said, the investment advice rings true. The world is getting more multipolar, which means
more unstable, politically.