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Originally Posted by Torpedo Fodder
Why do people assume that the dollar losing value against foreign currencies is automatically bad for the US? A currency that is too high is also bad, as is the case with Canada: Our dollar rose 20 cents against the US dollar in the last 2 years, and that is having a negative impact on our exports to the US. .
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A low currency is good for a country with a positve international trade balance. The US has the most negative of them all - They're probably the biggest importer of goods. A low currency makes those goods more expensive to buy... And since the US exports manufactured goods (IE, Cars) that are not easily obtainable from another country, a low currency doesn't favor them.
Canada is advantaged by a low currency because most of it's international currency income comes from the export of raw material. Much like a third world country.
And I'm affraid submarines will slowly go the way of the large surface warship. Except for the chinese, most of America's enemies are terrorists. They don't usually have submarines, or means of detecting an approaching F/A 18... A submarine would be overkill.
There's no way to build a numerous class of vessel AND have them up to tech. Technology is simply moving to fast for traditional military procurements methods. Five years between the drawin board and the first - or even fifth - launch makes the ship obsolete before it has left the yard! Well, ok, maybe not obsolete, but definetly not everything it could be.
Some form of modular design and standardized interface is probably the way to go in the long term. But unless American yards can suddenly spit out twenty ships a year, the days of 60 identical warships are gone. And it's not gonna happen - that'd be way too expensive.