Analyst, Teal Group
Analyst at Teal Group, a Fairfax, Virginia aviation consulting firm
PROFILE
Richard Aboulafia
Guest
FROM Richard Aboulafia
Which Way, L.A.?
The Wars of the Future and the Wars of the Past As we talk about his year's Pentagon budget, remember this: the US spends more on the military services, their arms and equipment than the rest of the world's nations combined. And the spending may well go up, despite cuts in some high-profile programs in what Secretary Robert Gates calls a “ reform budget .”
To the Point
Gates Calls for a Major Overhaul in Defense Spending Yesterday was supposed to be "bloody Monday" for the defense industry, but its stocks rallied as Defense Secretary Gates outlined his latest budget . The US spends more on the military services, arms and equipment than the rest of the world's nations combined. Despite cuts in high-profile projects, Pentagon spending may go up, because, as one analyst said, "For everything they took away, they added something else." The debate will be about conventional warfare versus counterinsurgencies like those in Iraq and Afghanistan, and about jobs in congressional districts. Image: Marine Gen. James Cartwright (R), vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, answers a question during yesterday's press conference with Defense Secretary Gates. DoD photo: Cherie Cullen
Recommended
To the Point
Replacing Obamacare: Now you see it… now you don’t As the Senate deliberates replacing Obmacare, health coverage for millions of people is at stake. There've been no public hearings, and a draft measure won't be made public. Is the House version so unpopular that that Senate is hiding a version that looks much the same?
To the Point
White House budget proposal slashes and burns President Trump's first budget request is considered dead on arrival in Congress — a familiar development in Capitol Hill. We hear what it reveals about the priorities of the new administration. What's likely to die… and what might survive?
To the Point
What happens when America retreats from the world? Is President Trump taking his "America First" agenda to extremes, withdrawing the country from the international stage on trade and climate change, distancing America from its traditional allies across the Atlantic and even threatening to physically isolate the country through the building of a wall along its southern border? León Krauze guest hosts.
To the Point
Who's to blame for the opioid crisis? Some of the lawyers who took on Big Tobacco are now going after Big Pharma. It’s all about the deadly epidemic of opioid use. Are the drug companies to blame? What about the users? Later, on today’s Talking Point: making sense of Britain’s upset election.