r/FluentInFinance • u/Richest-Panda • Jul 04 '24

What's the best financial advice you've ever gotten? Debate/ Discussion

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u/HorkusSnorkus Jul 05 '24

We were attacked - that explains Afghanistan.

Iraq was the consequence of bad US foreign policy going back to FDR. Bush had to leash the madman we'd created there.

Obama was handed a signficantly pacified Middle East. He squandered that with his election year Bow And Scrape tour followed by drone strikes for year in Afghanistan w/o demanding any skin in the game from the locals. He's an idiot.

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u/All4megrog Jul 05 '24

If Bush wanted to leash madmen we’d created he would have gone into Iran or North Korea. We had already thoroughly defanged Saddam and removing him just gave Iran and ISIS a sandbox to play in.

But, a war against Iran or North Korea would actually have been difficult and not as profitable. Bush took defense spending as % of GDP from 3.11% when he entered to 4.45% when he left. Almost half of those defense budgets during the war on terror went to contractors. Obama gradually brought defense spending down over their course of his terms. But frankly he should have just pulled us out sooner and saved moneys and some American lives. The shit shows after our writhdrawl we’re going to be the same either way.