Hold up. I see three NATO countries in that top-spending list, yet Trump is crying that they don’t spend enough? It seems, as everyone seems to agree, that the problem is the US spends way too much. But since US “defense” spending is an obvious grift to shift public money to private pockets this isn’t too surprising.
Depends on how you define “necessary”.
More than actual use, the American military is about “implied threat”
“Do as we say, or else”.
Its always been that way. Without the implied threat, the other world leaders would have told cheetolini to pound sand on day one.
Winning
Socialize (military) spending, vassalize smaller countries, privatize wealth, that’s the american way of running businesses
2 Trillions that could have been invested in education, science and welfare instead.
and health. Don’t forget health. Americans would actually SAVE money if they socialised healthcare.
its “necessary” once you figure out that when people get tired of the complications caused by it, they are willing to use the military to quash discent on behalf of the elite class, to maintain control.
all i know is, i play warhammer total war 3 a lot. and when my skavens are starving and start an uprising, i just send a lord with his army to quash the discenters, and maintain control.
simple as.
Stop calling it defense.
It’s officially war spending now.
The government did already
at least half goes to defense contractors.
“War” spending, now.
Edit: I am slow
When you hate and fear everyone, this is what you spend your money on.
And most of it goes either into super inflated prices for the most silly things, or into projects that no one can talk about and are unsupervised.
And it virtually only ever goes up. More and more of our labor is going towards feeding the imperial war machine, while social services are gutted. Our corrupt politicians just want to line the pockets of the corporations that make bombs, and they start conflicts around the globe to justify it. The primary function of the military is essentially money laundering, to channel public funds into private hands.
The United States provides security guarantees for most of the western world. That was the entire point of post-WWII reconstruction.
The US will provide security guarantees. Participating countries will provide free market access to their citizens.
- The Marshall Plan
The US has been in a position to overspend (proportionally) on defense due to having the strongest economy basically since WWII. Other countries are able to invest in their own economy, innovation or infrastructure without needing to spend money on defense.
Ignoring any Trump jingoism, look at NATO expenditures. These countries agreed to a certain level of spending based on their GDP so the US wasn’t the sole guarantor, but no one met their obligations for decades.
The United States provides security guarantees for most of the western world
This is just American exceptionalism. The west hasn’t waged a “defensive” war since 1945, all it’s done with its militaries is destroy other countries: Vietnam, Korea, Laos, Cambodia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya or Yugoslavia are just a few examples that come to mind, tens of millions of lives lost and tens of millions more ruined just in these conflicts.
The world would be a far, far, FAR better place if the west didn’t have this level of military capabilities.
The US is completely free to reduce their spending to match the rest of NATO but does not.
Most of that money stays in the country. If we shut down the tiny helicopter training base by my house, it would crush the local economy.
This must be the most 1984 thing I’ve read all week.
Peter G. Peterson
The most “Booty McBootface” type white name I’ve seen.
I am Peter, son of Peter, son of Peter.
