I assume that was sarcasm. We’re at the point now of Japan vs. the US in 1941 but reversed: Either we win quick or we get ground down by the far superior manufacturing capabilities of China, not to mention the imbalance in population and particularly population of science/engineering personnel. Prejudices based on the world of a generation ago no longer apply.
“I assume that was sarcasm.”
You figured it out!!! I don’t like to write /sarc on my posts, but instead drip out in several places. I only post what I did because PEOPLE HERE said the same - total idiots for thinking that.
The first problem we have is that China is building naval vessels 5 times faster than we are. Then, at least in recent history, it is often the country that spends less that does better (even in WW2, we were getting our butts kicked at the outset, by countries far less wealthy than us).
The next problem is how much does China REALLY spend? Do we have a source at their top levels sending us their budgets? I think not.
The next problem is what does China get for what they do spend. Do they have aerospace engineers making $200k a year, or closer to $20k a year (hint, it’s the second of the two).
The next problem is what they COULD be spending. We knew, correctly, that our economy was far larger than the Soviet economy. Can we say ours is far larger than China’s, or any larger than China’s, or even close to the size of China’s? I don’t think we know enough - but given that they vastly outproduce us on virtually everything that’s measured (such as cars, steel, concrete, power generation, etc.), I wouldn’t be surprised if their economy is already significantly larger than ours.
Look, I’m as pro-American as anyone else is here, but I DO NOT hide behind our flag to the point of not seeing what the rest of the world is doing while we’re arguing with Democrats over whether 5 year old boys should get their twang cut off because they play with their sister’s Barbie Dolls.
The only way to modernize our manufacturing base to that level is robotics.