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"We've used 5% of our defense budget to arm Ukraine. And with it, they've destroyed 50% of Putin's army." - Ad targeted to Republicans to support Ukraine (streamable.com)

submitted 1 year ago by Wilshire@lemmy.world to c/ukraine@sopuli.xyz

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[-] Stumblinbear@pawb.social 42 points 1 year ago

Not sure about "unnecessary." 5% works for Ukraine but also it has a much smaller land mass. You can't use that 5% to protect the entirety of the US' borders along with every other place we are stationed along with the required ongoing maintenance

I'm not saying the budget isn't ridiculously high, but also saying it's unnecessary as a whole is just incorrect

[-] PugJesus@kbin.social 26 points 1 year ago

5% is also us supplying to Ukraine a fraction of their needs, and few of the core costs of a military - like personnel costs, which make up 40% of the US military budget.

The military budget is bloated, just... not nearly to the degree people think.

[-] SomeAmateur@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

True. Hospital higher ups probably thought that extra hospital beds were extra money/upkeep that would be better spent elsewhere. So they cut it back to meet the average use. Then covid hit and everyone freaked out for a while because their patient count had a huge spike and no resources for a surge like that. It seems like we're already forgetting those lessons

For emergency services a little extra seems like a waste until you need it. Most European militaries would struggle for a while if a war were to break out because they are geared toward normal needs. Ukraine has been a wake up call and now they are getting the funding to modernize and start increasing to a more capable size.