Interesting charts, but as usual, rather meaningless unless
context is considered.
Lots of folks get hung up on just how much America spends on the military. And I'll probably shock a few here, but for the most part I
AGREE that the size of our military, and the associated spending, does need to decrease significantly (mostly because we can't afford it, and the current international situation would allow for it). But few understand
WHY we do so.
So, why is America stuck being the world's cop? Why isn't it another country like Great Britian, or Germany, or France
eek
, or the entire EU combined? How come everyone else gets to sit back, reduce the size of their miltiaries, and live the high hog off our our sweat and sacrifice?
Well, you wanna be the big dog, you gotta put up to be the big dog. We WANT a secure international environment, complete with secure lines of communication and commerce, so we can keep our economic engine running. THAT is our real strength, not how many tanks or planes we have, buy how big our economy is compared to everyone else, and how many of our dollars are flowing around the world. We're willing to "play cop" and pay for it because IT IS IMPORTANT TO US THAT WE DO SO, based on our economic equities.
Now some may say "Bullet, you silly guy. How can you call today's international environment secure? What, with the Ukraine, the Middle East, the Global War on Terrorism, the impending Zombie Apocalypse, etc. all happening right now?" Well, yes, those ARE concerns. But they are not "Our way of life is about to end" concerns (except the Zombies. Really nervous about those Zombies). For now. Look at the world's international situation since 1945. Remember, just before that time, the world powers kept going at one another, with bigger and bigger wars, and bigger and bigger body counts associated with those wars. 40 MILION PLUS from WWII alone, and that is a low-ball estimate. No, today's international stage, while troubling, is pretty secure based on where we were heading before America became the World Cop.
Is it time for our "partners" to share the burden some? Sure. But when folks start telling you that we should gut our military because we have so much more important stuff to spend our money on, I simply ask them, "Like what?" That, and "So, wold you like to spend $10 for a gallon of gas, and increase your graocery bill to be twice as expensive?"
Be proud that the US military is the "World Cop" for a reason, and proud of what we accomplished while being it. Without our presence, the world would have been a LOT less safer place.
Now, let's go kill some zombies!