The United States has such a large GDP because 1/3 of it is the private healthcare industry. Another massive chunk is the government throwing tax dollars at a shell company of a shell company of a shell company that moves a government contract for construction around to each other 4 times, all subsequently increasing GDP.
The US economy is just a collection of banks and insurance companies in a trench coat.
And they are loaning each other $1000000000 over and over again (with interest)
And yet Yanks will mock China for struggling to build a 3nm chip while their own country struggles to build a pier. As if one isn't cutting edge high tech and the other isn't maritime technology that's been "solved" for two hundred years.
The argument I’ve seen Americans using is “well only the US would try/ could build a pier in a war zone halfway across the world” which is entirely untrue.
First, almost every country at war does this.
Second, China regularly builds piers all over the world at a fraction of the cost and multiple times the capacity of this one.
Third, the US didn’t really build a pier at all if it is unusable and breaking after just a week.
But that’s the point anyway. It never had to work. The US just had to pretend to be doing something.
It never had to work. The US just had to pretend to be doing something.
Me at my office job
America still leading the world in the development and application of cope.
Two economists are walking in the park. The first economist sees a pile of dog shit and says to the other, "I'll pay you $50 to eat that dog shit." So he does and gets paid $50. Later on, the second economist sees a pile of dog shit and says to the first, "I'll pay you $50 to eat that pile of dog shit." So he does and gets paid $50.
The first economist says, "I can't help but feel we just ate dog shit for nothing." "Nonsense," says the second economist, "We just contributed $100 to the economy."
Wait, what the fuck? That rickety piece of garbage cost three hundred and fucking twenty million dollars? I knew it was pathetic, but not in this particular way as well lmao
It’s so pathetic that it’s almost like the military/military contractors are the biggest single kleptocratic scheme on earth to funnel government money into the hands of private capital.
It’s so pathetic that it’s almost like Israel didn’t want the United States to interrupt their ethnic cleansing process, so the United States built a pier that never was actually supposed to work all that well in the first place.
Yes but they are waves in a warzone (the pier was never attacked by either side of the conflict)
Who would win?
320 million Murican dollarydos 💸
Or 1 wavey Boi 🌊
everyone going on about 'but muh warzone,' as if the United States could have built the permanent Chinese pier in peacetime for less than billions
I will grant them that it is very dangerous for them to build in Gaza due to the high probability of friendly fire from their allies indiscriminate bombing.
everyone going on about 'but muh warzone,'
And they're completely denying that it is, in fact, a genocide zone. Stupid fucks
Holy fuck, that really is it
Are you shitting me?? I've been on fucking boat docks on shitty midwest lakes that have been better built than this
Well… that WAS it until it broke a few days ago
Yeah I did see that, which is part of what spurred the 'better built docks in the middle of nowhere' bit
I guess they couldn't afford to properly account for it being in the ocean with that 320 mill, maybe they just need another 500 mill to make one that doesn't sink due to choppy water
Quick find a way to bid your idea to the U.S. Government and you could be an instant millionaire
Temporary floating docks are literally just a common thing that you use on offshore construction, what the fuck
Seriously, they could have just hired Bubba Joe's Floating Dock Company to install this for like $750k. They install shit like this all. the. time. And in fact, I'll bet they did do just that and just pocketed the rest.
This is exactly how the MIC works. Wildly high bids/price fixing for the Pentagon, and the brass own stakes or even outright own the companies that fleece the government.
If they don't directly own shares, they've got a sweetheart gig on the company's board lined up for when they 'retire'.
Lmfao they used the excuse of humanitarian aid to build a useless structure and embezzle 319 million dollars
The US is so toast
It's literally just a floating dock too. I've seen mid tier marinas with similar set ups
no healthcare, jack. We need another 300mil to build another disposable pier
There's a reason 3 of the top 5 wealthiest counties in the US are in Virginia.
wonder what the PLA pays for a trash can in one of their planes, I bet it's not $52,000
OP can you please make a meme from this pic? It's a very memable comparison
a hair too deepfried and the "BOTTOM TEXT" is obscuring the piers themselves
The difference between building something in a matter weeks versus a matter months.
The war has been going on for 8 months and we've known aid is not coming in fast enough pretty much the entire time. Why didn't they simply start construction earlier?
also, the supposed humanitarian purpose of the pier could even have been easily achieved with negative dollars spent, by simply not sending said dollars to isn'treal
I have to ask - was Guandong a warzone? I'm all for pointing out how awful things are, and that's a lot of money for a rickety pier, but I do want to make sure we're comparing apples to apples.
Do you really think being in a warzone matters? Who is going to attack the U.S. building the pier? Hamas, Hezbollah or Yemen whom wants aid to get in to lessen internal tensions in Gaza, or Israel, who are ostensibly U.S. allies?
If anything, this was a chance for the U.S. to put it's money where it's mouth was in term of a neoliberal 'redevelopment' scheme, but clearly it's going to be the same shtick we pulled in Iraq and Afghanistan. Alot of money and talk.
Edit: If you're going to make a shit argument, at least go with the 'it was done in weeks' argument.
Eh there's always the possibility of a stray missile or explosive of some kind. Isn't the Israeli military full of "officers" who are basically kids promoted with the barest whiff of experience? If they're in charge of anything that goes boom the Americans probably should be a little wary
Then maybe they should have just focused on keeping the Rafah crossing open to aid as opposed to building anything. The point is that the entire thing is clearly not meant to be a good use of money, it is clearly graft.
Then maybe they should have just focused on keeping the Rafah crossing open to aid as opposed to building anything.
No arguments there. Just saying the construction is probably complicated a bit by the genocide they're complicit in
It's clearly not, however it's indicative of the vast wastefulness of the US Gov't in it's pursuit of global domination. In addition, simply referring to Gaza as a warzone would imply this pier would be under any danger whatsoever, which I find doubtful considering the normal tactics of Hamas, PFLP, etc
but I do want to make sure we're comparing apples to apples.
You're right, it's actually a genocide zone, so that's your comparison for you.
And if you wanna go there, CW(genocide):
spoiler
the Nazis built better shit in their own genocide zones
so all in all this is a complete dunk for amerikkka.
The US install literal military bases complete with airfields and air conditioning in the middle of the desert after invading and occupying it lol. They can’t do it after being invited to the region?
In Australia our public transport projects are all expensive because even the planning is done by the private sector
Is Guandong a war zone in a country 7000 miles away from China ?
No one is attacking the pier lmfao.
Israel is a short distance from Europe, which all the supplies could have come from.
Simply put, America no longer has the capability to efficiently accomplish infrastructure projects.
Anything else is cope.
Don't you mean to say that Gaza is a genocide zone? GTFO with your dumb ass shit
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