Posted on 03/06/2023 12:48:22 PM PST by CFW
Maybe we could buy some ammo from China?
Some years ago, machinists were low on the pay scale and a lot of people left the trade for more promising careers in fast food and groceries.
My Dad was a Navy doc stationed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard when the Missouri was being built.
Believe it or not, they rolled steel at a live plant on the streets of Brooklyn NY.
The warmongers at State and in the White House (and here) have no idea what they want to get us into.
This problem goes back to the days of the “peace dividend” in the 1990’s, when manufacturing capacity was also allowed to degrade.
“Biden” (or whoever is really in charge) are chancing war with China AND Russia at the same time.
Where have we heard warnings about this potential situation before? You know where our machine tools come from? China, of course. This Uke quagmire gets more ridiculous with each passing day.
“Shipping production overseas so Wall Street private equity can service a few more pennies of debt is really showing its long-term effects.”
This, at least, is correct.
A proper historically informed answer.
And the logic that has driven US foreign policy since 1945.
With great success I might add. The Pax Americana has been the greatest boon to the entire world that has ever been.
> The warmongers at State and in the White House (and here) have no idea what they want to get us into. <
Add the top Pentagon brass to that list. Back in 2021 the Pentagon assured everyone that the Taliban was months away from attacking. Kabul fell a few days later. Those same generals are still advising Biden today.
The election of that philandering liar is still paying dividends for our enemies.
Well, from Korea, Turkey, and a bunch of other places too.
Quite a few countries make 155mm shells.
And IIRC most are spinning up production to meet orders from the US, Eastern Europe and Ukraine. This is a great advantage of the US position in the world. It can tap global supply chains much better than its likely opponents.
> Clearly the past has shown us that a stable Europe is in the interests of the US. <
You make an interesting argument, and I agree with the above statement.
But much of Europe’s prior instability was due to Germany and France being at each other’s throats. That period is gone now, and it’s not coming back. So does Europe really still need us to maintain stability?
Not to approve of the Clinton administration in any way, but one does sometimes have to be the devils advocate.
To be fair, this was a bipartisan failure, and more than anything an institutional failure. The US Armed Forces did not do enough to maintain industrial capacity in the post-Cold War drawdown, for all sorts of things. That was mainly a matter of prioritization in their budget requests.
Without Ukraine, the problem in this article would not be being corrected until we noticed all these problems in our war against China when it would be too late.
About half of US machine tool purchases are from domestic manufacturers actually. The US does make machine tools. Some of that has recently been from foreign companies setting up US manufacturing.
As for imports, IIRC China supplies about 1/4, Germany maybe 1/5 of imports.
China itself is also the worlds largest importer of machine tools. I think its also a net importer.
Machine tools are a very hot business right now.
Yep. In 1983, DOD opened the first new Army Ammunition Plant since the Korean War in Hancock County, Mississippi. It was on the grounds of NASA's Stennis Space Center, a remote location used for testing rocket engines during the development of the Saturn V rocket.
Before production began, there was an "open house" with guided tours and video presentations. It was the most technologically advanced ammo plant then in existence in the country - and it only operated until the late '90s, when Clinton's budget caught up with it. It was mothballed, with a few low GS-level employees left there to maintain the buildings.
In 2005, it was on the list of recommended closures that came out of the BRAC process. By 2009, the property had transitioned to NASA.
I wonder what became of all the high-tech wizardry that was packed into that place? Especially the 155mm artillery round production line, which could crank out something like 120,000 rounds per month. I'm sure that someone would like to have that online again, right about now.
Europe can pay for its own problems. Our protection of Europe has allowed them to spend money, not on their militaries, but on all their socialism. That has to end, particularly before we go broke. Europes inaction on this war just shows that they are freeloaders. I have greater animosity for European nations than I do for either Ukraine or Russia. There’s no Spend-Lease agreement in place with any party. Just watch, we’ll end up paying to rebuild after this is all over. Biden eff’s up everything he touches.
Wow. Nobody could have seen this coming - except those of us watching American manufacturing being hollowed out since 1976.
Yes, that seems to be an egregious case.
I was also one of the”peace dividend” casualties, our company worked in metrology for aerospace companies, and our contracts were nor renewed, one after another. I came out of it very well, with minimum hassle, but I can’t say the same for many of the manufacturing people.
This can go back to Obama shutting down domestic lead protection.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.