Quote:
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Originally Posted by Seaver
I hope Canada stays, but we shouldn't degrade them if they don't.
Canada is on a shoestring budget. When I lived there, 2% of the budget was for the military. They saved up for 15 years just to buy 2 squadrons of F-18 Hornets (my father was an exchange officer during this, flew with their Squad based in Ottowa).
If they leave it's more symbolic than anything else. Their troops are fighting well, but won't cripple us if they leave. I just appreciate them being there with us so long.
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Translation:
The Canadian misplaced priority on spending for universal health care, instead of on military equipment and forces totally out of proportion to what it would cost to provide an adequate defense, makes it entirely understandable that they can no longer justify the expense of mainitaining troops in Afghanistan.
After all, Canada has experienced a dramatic rise in the purchasing power of it's currency, exports more than 1 million bbl of petroleum per day, enjoys a balance of trade surplus and <a href="http://blogs.usask.ca/the_bolt/archive/2006/12/canadian_debt_gdp.html">no appreciable federal debt increases</a>.
The US won't be "crippled when the Canadians leave", because the US has become accustomed to running annual combined trade and federal debt increases of $1.5 trillion, experiences 45 million of it's population with no health care coverage, and fields troops on their fourth combat tours, extended from a year to 16 months in length, supplemented by troops forced back into active duty via stop loss retention orders.
What haven't I covered here?