Hoisted from Comments… Return on Military Investment

I’m going to assume the colorful language is being used to make a point about those who talk big about projecting military force (that involves others showing up and doing the projecting). Hoisted from comments, Brad deLong-style… mik-infidel writes:

One wonders what is the value of being superpower if one cannot win friggin war.

A little frog of a dictator in Venezuela is spitting in our eye.
No respect for the superpower.

I will repeat what William F. Buckley said: there is no difference between a rifle and a broomstick if one is not going to use rifle.

Frog in Venezuela knows this. Rug-heads in Iran know this.

Why are we spending money and getting no respect?

We get bad return on investment, lets reduce it.