At LAST change I can kinda, sorta, believe in.

/Go Skynet!

ne2d: What a "flying car" may look like:

Done in 1

I suspect that this article really doesn't promise me what subby is trying to get me all excited about.

/Jaded and cynical
//DNRTFA

Someone stole your future.

Yeah! A gyrocopter. They've only been around since forever.

Oh, look! DOD spending is 4% of US GDP. Sure sounds "out of control", eh?

TheHateMonger: Oh, look! DOD spending is 4% of US GDP. Sure sounds "out of control", eh?

Compared to any other first world nation? Yes.

I'm sorry, but that is one of the stupidest looking things I've ever seen.

UltimaCS: I'm sorry, but that is one of the stupidest looking things I've ever seen.

Does Homer's car have rear wheel steering or something?

I'll take two gas mask bras please.

How are people not wet dreaming about this? That thing is bad ass - relatively low energy requirements and it can take off straight up.

\was needed

TheHateMonger: Oh, look! DOD spending is 4% of US GDP. Sure sounds "out of control", eh?

$515.4 billion
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy09/pdf/budget/defense.pdf

Plus 188 billion
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/89xx/doc8971/Letter.2.1.shtml

Total: 703.4 billion

Out of a total of 3100 billion
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy09/pdf/budget/tables.pdf

22% of the money the Gov spends is spent on the military. (Or my math was stupid.)

Honestly? Yeah. That sounds a bit out of control.

Out of control? National defense is one thing the government is supposed to be spending its money on. The constitution doesn't say anything about farm subsidies, private sector bailouts, or special interest research. ...and who gives a flying fark what other countries do with theirs?

Can I has teh flying skateboard instead?

I just want my puppy on a hovercraft.

If they ever do produce them, everyone will have to wear earplugs all the time as the low flying flying cars full of tardz roar overhead all day and night on their way to McDonalds.

Yeah I want a flying car, but I don't trust most dumbasses out there with a regular ground travel car. So why is giving them one that goes faster and can crash into the level of my house I sleep on be a good idea?

i want a flying CAR. not a plane or a helicopter that's called a car. doesn't work that way.



/hot

TheHateMonger

Oh, look! DOD spending is 4% of US GDP. Sure sounds "out of control", eh?

That's a great comparison if you feel military spending has fark all to do with GDP. Which it doesn't.

I much prefer to compare it to discretionary spending, but that looks bad, so maybe we'd better not.

Fark Moller
/Obligatory

Running a-puck: TheHateMonger: Oh, look! DOD spending is 4% of US GDP. Sure sounds "out of control", eh?

$515.4 billion
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy09/pdf/budget/defense.pdf

Plus 188 billion
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/89xx/doc8971/Letter.2.1.shtml

Total: 703.4 billion

Out of a total of 3100 billion
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy09/pdf/budget/tables.pdf

22% of the money the Gov spends is spent on the military. (Or my math was stupid.)

Honestly? Yeah. That sounds a bit out of control.

It's not your math, it's your definition of GDP.

Marcus Aurelius: TheHateMonger

Oh, look! DOD spending is 4% of US GDP. Sure sounds "out of control", eh?

That's a great comparison if you feel military spending has fark all to do with GDP. Which it doesn't.

I much prefer to compare it to discretionary spending, but that looks bad, so maybe we'd better not.

Why only discretionary, why are you excluding non-discretionary?

KarmicDisaster: If they ever do produce them, everyone will have to wear earplugs all the time as the low flying flying cars full of tardz roar overhead all day and night on their way to McDonalds.

The noise will be unbearable.
The energy consumption would necessarily be WAY more than driving.
It will also be unsafe to be anywhere UNDER all the morans trying to navigate 3 dimensions at once.

Until we have silent, computer driven, fusion powered flying cars, it's a no go.

I have been hearing about flying cars since I was a kid decades ago. I think we are no closer now.

Running a-puck: 22% of the money the Gov spends is spent on the military. (Or my math was stupid.)

Honestly? Yeah. That sounds a bit out of control.

Considering that the government has a very limited number things is actually supposed to do (especially at the federal level) 22% sounds low. I wouldn't mind seeing EVERYTHING cut, including Defense, but see that 22% number go up a bit.

Ah, if feels good to do a little trolling before I start the weekend. I'm headed home in my flying car. Happy Friday everyone.

/on the DOD payroll

jonny_q: Running a-puck: 22% of the money the Gov spends is spent on the military. (Or my math was stupid.)

Honestly? Yeah. That sounds a bit out of control.

Considering that the government has a very limited number things is actually supposed to do (especially at the federal level) 22% sounds low. I wouldn't mind seeing EVERYTHING cut, including Defense, but see that 22% number go up a bit.


This.

Also, considering our standing in the world... yeah, we're going to need to spend a lot on defense.

ALSO, something that folks conveniently seem to forget when comparing our military spending against that of European nations and other 1st world allies is that they don't have to spend as much on defense BECAUSE we spend as much as we do to have a strong military. They know that they can rely on hiding beneath our defense umbrella in case of a major invasion.

AND ALSO, having such an overwhelmingly strong military is why we are generally at peace. The only folks willing to actually fark with us overtly are non-state actors, and they aren't taking over our country any time soon. Having an overwhelming military keeps us more at peace than we otherwise would be.

Can we stop referring to it as national defense? It's been more of a national offense the past few decades.

Can we stop referring to it as national offense? It's been more of a national defense the past few decades.

That thing looks sorta like a trouble bubble.

/COBRA!

Came here to say that once your car also flies then it's called a "plane," but I see that has been taken care off.

people fark all sorts of shiat up when they drive on the ground, don't give the everyday moron another dimension in which to be stupid

Forget flying cars. I want one of these.

Link (new window)

mongbiohazard: AND ALSO, having such an overwhelmingly strong military is why we are generally at peace.

I hear it's very peaceful in Iraq and Afghanistan this time of year.

quetzl jity: Forget flying cars. I want one of these.

Link (new window)

I want a flying Lazyboy with a beer and popcorn dispenser!

/And, a huge flatscreen TV to boot ... hmm, with its own dish?

If the flying car ever becomes common the value of underground housing will skyrocket.




/only deeper

wildcardjack: If the flying car ever becomes common the value of underground housing will skyrocket.

/only deeper

that picture taken from the shire?
/concerning hobbits...

2wolves: TheHateMonger: Oh, look! DOD spending is 4% of US GDP. Sure sounds "out of control", eh?

Compared to any other first world nation? Yes.

'Course the fact that every other first world nation (excepting Britain and Australia) has let their military deteriorate for the past 50-odd years doesn't mean anything.

Running a-puck: TheHateMonger: Oh, look! DOD spending is 4% of US GDP. Sure sounds "out of control", eh?

$515.4 billion
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy09/pdf/budget/defense.pdf

Plus 188 billion
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/89xx/doc8971/Letter.2.1.shtml

Total: 703.4 billion

Out of a total of 3100 billion
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy09/pdf/budget/tables.pdf

22% of the money the Gov spends is spent on the military. (Or my math was stupid.)

Honestly? Yeah. That sounds a bit out of control.

Sorry, you're wrong on two points. 4% of Gross Domestic Product is not the same as percentage of the Federal budget. And, as a percentage of the Federal budget, spending on defense is less than 10% and declining (versus the 50% of the Federal budget spent on defense during the Kennedy administration).

US defense spending may be out of control....


not when war is so profitable for our Defense Contractor friends AND they don't have to send their mice to die over seas. that job is for the 'little people'

/hot

You know what the problem is? It's Earth! You look out the window of Starfleet Headquarters and you see flying cars in Paradise. Well, it's easy to fly a car in Paradise.

Billions spent on Defense + Nothing spent on Education = Soldiers with a 2nd grade education using million dollar equipment / possibly blowing up the wrong countries.

MyRandomName

Why only discretionary, why are you excluding non-discretionary?

We're not going to be invaded by Mexico or Canada, so the idea of spending more than the rest of the world combined on our military is a bit ludicrous. Comparing it to discretionary just makes that point more obvious.

mavrick45: Billions spent on Defense + Nothing spent on Education = Soldiers with a 2nd grade education using million dollar equipment / possibly blowing up the wrong countries.

$159.4 billion for FY 2009 Link (new window)

In any case, national defense is a constitutional responsibility of the federal government, whereas education is not.

fouronine: mavrick45: Billions spent on Defense + Nothing spent on Education = Soldiers with a 2nd grade education using million dollar equipment / possibly blowing up the wrong countries.

$159.4 billion for FY 2009 Link (new window)

In any case, national defense is a constitutional responsibility of the federal government, whereas education is not.

Quit making sense and using facts! you'll undermine my whole argument!

fouronine: mavrick45: Billions spent on Defense + Nothing spent on Education = Soldiers with a 2nd grade education using million dollar equipment / possibly blowing up the wrong countries.

$159.4 billion for FY 2009 Link (new window)

In any case, national defense is a constitutional responsibility of the federal government, whereas education is not.

In addition:

"98 percent of all enlisted recruits who enter the military have an education level of high school graduate or higher, compared to the national average of 75 percent."
U.S. Bureau of the Census, United States Census 2000, Summary File 3, at www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2002/ sumfile3.html (July 6, 2005). Alternative data from the Current Population Survey indicate that 79 percent of citizens ages 18-24 have achieved a level of education of a high school equivalent diploma or higher.

Link (new window)

Demographics (new window)

mavrick45: Billions spent on Defense + Nothing spent on Education = Soldiers with a 2nd grade education using million dollar equipment / possibly blowing up the wrong countries.

Too bad nobody taught you fact checking

Total combined (Federal, State, Local) Education spending United States FY2009 $905.2 billion

Total (Federal, State, no local Defense spending FY 2009 $822.4 Billion

United States Federal State and Local Government Spending (new window)


Link (new window)

"OECD countries now spend an average of USD 7,343 per student per year between primary and tertiary education, but this masks a broad range of expenditure across countries. Switzerland and the U.S. spend the most, with average annual outlays per student of more than USD 11,000. At the other end of the scale, Mexico and the Slovak Republic spend around USD 2,000 per student per year. The drivers of expenditure per student vary across countries: among the five countries with the highest expenditure per student, Switzerland and the United States are two of the countries with the highest teachers' salaries at secondary level of education whereas Austria, Denmark and Norway are among the countries with the lowest student to teaching staff ratio."

"Spending is not necessarily a guarantee of higher quality in terms of education, though: Australia, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands and New Zealand all have moderate expenditure on education per student at the primary and lower secondary levels but are among the countries where 15-year-olds perform strongest in key subject areas."