Could you imagine the laughter if May proposed this

[NutLoose]

Waste a Spaces board would have a coronary and the treasury would have kittens..

Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded that his country’s biggest enterprises must show that they can step up arms production and important services on short notice to be war-ready.

“The economic ability to increase the production of defense products and services quickly is a vital element of military security,” Putin told military leaders and senior officials in the defense industrial complex on Wednesday. “All strategic and simply large companies, regardless of the type of ownership, must be able to do this.”

Vladimir Putin Tells Russian Defense Companies to Prepare for War (http://www.newsweek.com/putin-says-russias-defense-companies-must-adapt-war-economy-720802)


..

[Heathrow Harry]

He should be careful. It was military expenditure that went a long way to bankrupting the USSR

[Pontius Navigator]

HH, excessive production indeed hastened their plight, but being ready to ramp up production is something else.

True the cost of standing producers, like a standing army, is not cheap, but it is a lot cheaper than fighting a war.

Had the UK not been running high tempo Ops in the last 30 years would we have fielded more or less capability today?

[MPN11]

Had the UK not been running high tempo Ops in the last 30 years would we have fielded more or less capability today?
Less.

There would not have been innumerable UORs, for a start.
And there would have been cries of "Downsize them all, they don't do anything."

Quite whether the latest nauseous Defence Budget proposals are a 'Peace Dividend' is a different question, and I feel sure we will get our Military fingers burned when we next take on organised military forces (especially if we have to do it alone!).

[Cazalet33]

It was military expenditure that went a long way to bankrupting the USSR

The US National Debt is $20Trn.

What was the USSR National debt? What is Russia's National Debt?

Which is truly bankrupt?

[air pig]

The US National Debt is $20Trn.

What was the USSR National debt? What is Russia's National Debt?

Which is truly bankrupt?

Russia like China's national debt is a mystery wrapped in an enigma as someone once said. Both have military and civilian sending is packaged together, not a position that a western democracy would be allowed to do.

[Cazalet33]

Care to quantify that, pig?

[air pig]

Care to quantify that, pig?

How can you quantify that you cannot unravel.

[Cazalet33]

Its's not a matter of unravelling, pig.

It's more a matter of which debt will ever be repaid.

Will The Empire's debt of $200Trn ever be be repaid? Is any of that that at all credible? Is any of that money real? Was it ever real?

Was there any intent and/or ability to to repay that debt? If not, then that money is not real and never was real. It's just fake. In effect: it's just counterfeit.

[Pontius Navigator]

Caz, quite, indeed does it matter? Every month a little pulse of light shines a little happiness in my bank account and another reduces it. Then my council nicks a bit, DVLA takes bit more and so on.

[chopper2004]

Russia like China's national debt is a mystery wrapped in an enigma as someone once said. Both have military and civilian sending is packaged together, not a position that a western democracy would be allowed to do.

Sounds like the military-industrial complex that Eisenhower forewarned and JFK open.y opposed..:cool::D:cool:

Cheers

[parabellum]

Will The Empire's debt of $200Trn ever be be repaid?


Please quantify Cazalet.

[Heathrow Harry]

No - because it's not necessary to repay it

In countries which are monetarily sovereign (such as the United States of America (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_of_America), the United Kingdom (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom) and most other countries, in contrast with eurozone (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurozone) countries), government debt held in the home currency are merely savings accounts held at the central bank. In this way this "debt" has a very different meaning to the debt acquired by households who are restricted by their income. Monetarily sovereign governments issue their own currencies and do not need this income to finance spending. In these self-financing nations, government debt is effectively an account of all the money that has been spent but not yet taxed back. Their ability to issue currency means they can always service the interest repayments on these savings accounts. This is why bonds and gilts are considered the safest form of investment.

Government debt can be categorized as internal debt (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_debt) (owed to lenders within the country) and external debt (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/External_debt) (owed to foreign lenders). Another common division of government debt is by duration until repayment is due. Short term debt is generally considered to be for one year or less, long term is for more than ten years. Medium term debt falls between these two boundaries. A broader definition of government debt may consider all government liabilities, including future pension payments and payments for goods and services the government has contracted but not yet paid.