PPRuNe Forums - The odd billion here, the odd billion there, soon your talking real money!

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- - The odd billion here, the odd billion there, soon your talking real money! (https://www.pprune.org/military-aviation/445696-odd-billion-here-odd-billion-there-soon-your-talking-real-money.html)

Nutloose,

Quote:

Also give Scotland and Wales independance totally....... if they vote No, close the assemblies and merge all 3 back together...... why we are running and paying for 3 "parliaments" and all the civil servants that go with it is beyond me, seems to be the only thing Politicians are averse to cutting.

Couldn't put it better myself except

STUFF THE EU

as well.

And how much do all these HMRC buildings cost the tax payer to rent then????£££????

Quote:

Quote:
give them benefits for 2 years, after that stop them dead unless they carry out 5 days a week labour employed cleaning streets, litter picking etc etc etc......... failure to carry this out....... stop their benefits period.
Nutloose, as one of the great unwashed, I suggest you take your suggestion and shove it up your backside sideways. I don't spend my day sitting around watching TV and drinking beer. The fact is there are very few jobs out there, and cnuts like you taking cheap shots at the majority of unemployed folk struggling to find work are not helpful. If the grass needs cut, litter picked up or the streets cleaned, them employ someone to do it, thus reducing unemployment.

Sorry to hear that Dan but it does work, help people to come off benefits and into work with time limits on claiming, The US did just that
see
USATODAY.com - How welfare reform changed America

I never suggested you do sit around all day sitting drinking beer, but some do. my neighbour for one, had the nerve to ask me if i could walk around quietly in the morning as I occasionally woke them up when I was getting ready for work (they could hear my shoes on the wooden floors through the party wall)......... Once told me they would love to work but prefer sitting in the sun drinking!

perhaps if you pm me what you do I could help search for you and who knows we might get lucky :)

Nutloose, I was in an bad mood yesterday and having spent the morning trawling round job sites looking for work, your comment just got my back up. I usually just laugh those type of comments off with a, "I'll just head home in the Beamer and watch the 52 inch plasma with a beer or six", but I seem to have had a sense of humour failure yesterday. I know that there are, and always will be, an element who will screw the system, but we are not all at it.

I read the link you provided. It didn't change my opinion on work for welfare. I think we'll just have to disagree on that point.

Danny

A perspective on Australian defence expenditure

One billion dollars is a vast amount of money, as illustrated by this little gimmick converting dollars to seconds:

$1million in seconds = 11.57 DAYS
$1billion in seconds = 31.71 YEARS
$1trillion in seconds = 317 CENTURIES

Projecting defence expenditure as a percentage of GDP is just smoke and mirrors stuff as reality is all costs have to be borne from government revenue.

In Australia, both major political parties have foolishly committed to unaffordable annual increases in defence expenditure of 3 percent to 2018 and then 2.2 percent to 2030, aiming toward development of a mythical Force 2030 structure which is a feast for the major arms conglomerates.

At FY2008, Australian annual defence expenditure was around $22.4billion representing 7.6 percent of government revenue. For the current financial year it will approximate $27billion or maybe northwards of 9 percent of government revenue. If government revenue stagnates, the percentage spent on defence will continue to increase, unless taxation heads upwards to increase government income.

This scenario has evolved because Australia primarily has a defence industry support policy in lieu of continuously maintaining adequate and credible military preparedness through progressive optimisation of proven in-service assets (where cost-effective). A whole range of questionable projects are pouring billions into largely foreign-parented defence industries whereas proven assets (like Iroquois, Blackhawk, Seahawk, Sea King helicopters) that could have been run through manufacturer enhancement programs, are being discarded.

It seems the unit costs of MRH90, MH-60R, NFH90 are somewhere between about 35 and 70 million US/Australian dollars, which is absurd considering most military helicopter roles are pretty basic functions. The latest trick of Lockheed Martin/Sikorsky is an offer to upgrade relatively low airframe time Blackhawks and Seahawks for sale to other nations as a bribe to have the MH-60R selected for a so-called naval combat helicopter at an outrageous overall project cost mooted at up to $3.5billion for just 24 aircraft.

Australia's military capacity is being neutered by shedding proven capabilities while indulging in unrealistic compounding increases in defence expenditure on numerous dubious merit acquisition projects. This situation has devolved from deficient political and military leadership and the overriding influence of the major arms conglomerates on military capabilities planning.

Somewhere downstream, there will have to be an economic reality check, perhaps involving a rationalisation of military structures and roles.