how much would it cost shutdown every oversea base?

[Free Trade is managed by the invisible hand.]

and how would it effect the labor market?

I am speaking domestic terms.

[phk]

The supply curve of labor would shift out.

[Bo]

Probably a lot of money, but it would cost a lot more in the long run if we kept all those bases in place and continued oeprating them the way we do now.

[Scam of God]

Probably a lot of money, but it would cost a lot more in the long run if we kept all those bases in place and continued oeprating them the way we do now.

[dead0man]

We have a quarter of million troops at overseas bases (not including Iraq, Kuwait or Afghanistan).  Are we going to absorb them back into CONUS (continental US) or shrink our forces by a fifth?  A combination of the two?  Most of those guys are at the places we always talk about, Germany, Japan, S.Korea...Italy and the UK to a slightly lesser extent, but some of them are like the one Jarhead in Sierra Leone or the lonely Army guy in Eritrea or the two Airman on St.Helena (Lord knows what they get up to on a chilly fall morning).  Are we bringing all those guys home too? 

The link I'm using to get this data.

Is it odd that there are 16 US service men currently stationed in Venezuela?

[bullmoose88]

Is it odd that there are 16 US service men currently stationed in Venezuela?

Embassy Staff?

[phk]

If we invest in robotic soldiers, we could retire a lot of our soldiers or re-train them to be remote control.

[dead0man]

Is it odd that there are 16 US service men currently stationed in Venezuela?

Embassy Staff?

Maybe...but then why so few in Lebanon (3) and a lot of places only have 1 or 2.  I assumed they were not counting Embassy gaurds...but I don't know for certain.

[dead0man]

This wiki page should be helpful here, but it's not really.

[opebo]

Make-work programs are much more economically effective if the employees are physically located 'within our economy'.  Just bring them home, give them a very big raise, and put them to work fixing the streets or collecting taxes, something like that.

[Free Trade is managed by the invisible hand.]

The supply curve of labor would shift out.

what do you mean by this?

Many individuals often suggest that we would save alot of money by shutting down are oversea bases,but these same people often forget to mention that moving troops,equipment, and tearing down a base has an economic cost as well. Secondly many of our oversea troops do spend their cash on what the locals have produced.

[dead0man]

Well, you don't have to move it all and you can just stop bringing new airmen and soldiers in.  That cuts down the numbers fast and you don't have to "move" anybody.  Of course they all have to "move" eventually so that cost really shouldn't be factored in at all.  Most of the equipment could easily be sold to SOMEbody in Europe that will be willing to come pick it up.  And most of the stuff that we can't sell for security reasons is small or at least smallish.  Some avionics and crypto gear maybe...but hell, it's probably all NATO shared equipment anyway so there is probably nothing equipment wise we couldn't sell.  The purchasers of the land will probably keep most of the good buildings and tearing down old ones puts locals to work and isn't that expensive anyway.  Shutting down a base could not only save huge costs over the long haul, it could actually earn a little instant cash in the short term.

And who cares about the local economy around the bases? we don't seem to mind when we closes bases in the US.

[Free Trade is managed by the invisible hand.]

Well, you don't have to move it all and you can just stop bringing new airmen and soldiers in.  That cuts down the numbers fast and you don't have to "move" anybody.  Of course they all have to "move" eventually so that cost really shouldn't be factored in at all.  Most of the equipment could easily be sold to SOMEbody in Europe that will be willing to come pick it up.  And most of the stuff that we can't sell for security reasons is small or at least smallish.  Some avionics and crypto gear maybe...but hell, it's probably all NATO shared equipment anyway so there is probably nothing equipment wise we couldn't sell.  The purchasers of the land will probably keep most of the good buildings and tearing down old ones puts locals to work and isn't that expensive anyway.  Shutting down a base could not only save huge costs over the long haul, it could actually earn a little instant cash in the short term.

And who cares about the local economy around the bases? we don't seem to mind when we closes bases in the US.

r u kidding me closing bases in our country is always an unpopular move!

[dead0man]

Right....but we still do it, so we don't mind that much.  What the closure does to a local economy shouldn't be used as reason to close a base or not.

[benevolent democracy]

I would be interested to see what would happen if we reduced overseas operations by even 50%.

This includes cost, troops, the whole shebang...
Would we not recoup the cost on the upside of that bell curve within a few years, simply by reducing military spending?

[phk]

The supply curve of labor would shift out.

what do you mean by this?

Many individuals often suggest that we would save alot of money by shutting down are oversea bases,but these same people often forget to mention that moving troops,equipment, and tearing down a base has an economic cost as well. Secondly many of our oversea troops do spend their cash on what the locals have produced.

Soldiers and military personnel are not counted as part of the labor force.

If there are excess soldiers after the shutdown of overseas bases than the size of the labor force will increase as they begin to participate in the labor force.  The supply curve will shift outward.