Now to throw in the monkey wrenches… My question at the end is: While everyone is criticizing North Korean for starving its citizens, why isn’t anyone criticizing China for spending money to have their own aircraft carrier, in an era when aircraft carriers are fast becoming obsolete, when they still have people living in poverty and starving?
Who dominates the aircraft carrier space right now? The US, so let’s look at some numbers:
The United States has 11 aircraft carriers. The new Ford class cost around $9 billion per. The Nimitz class cost $4.5 billion each. Those are construction costs, not operation costs.
So what are the operating costs? Well, let’s look at the Nimitz Class Carriers in 1997:
If that didn’t come out correctly, you can also look at this document…
and get accurate numbers.
The point is, that’s a lot of money spent by the US. A country that despite is running a $16-trillion public debt as we speak. I suppose it also doesn’t help, considering America’s history of deficits. So let’s look at another country that doesn’t have 105.1% of the GDP as pubic debt as of 2011: China. Its public debt only comprises 43.5% as of 2011. 43.5% is a real far-cry in comparison to the 105.1% the US has, and if you wanted to take it even further, at least it’s not like Zimbabwe’s 220.1%. Not to fear, Japan is right behind with 211.7%! So I guess China should go ahead with military expenditures. After all, it’s in better financial shape than some other countries.
That’s right! It’s time to do it Aircraft Style:
But wait, China!
There’s still the fact that you still have over 100-million people living in poverty. Sure, China’s poverty numbers equal 13.4%, but… Actually, that’s lower than the US’s 15.1%! So where does the talk about income inequality come from? Lack of economic mobility, and income inequality.
I guess that’s an arguement for another day… Back to aircraft carriers! If China’s military was merely there to defend its own interests, it doesn’t need an aircraft carrier to project it’s power. The idea of projecting your nation’s military might goes beyond the realm of defensive, and dangerously veers into the offensive. So much for being a non-intervention country! Add to that, as mentioned just now, they’re becoming obsolete, and are ridiculously expensive. There are many other things that China can do for its people at a more meaningful level, instead of following outdated models of military might. How about setting up tolls to fix your traffic situation?