> the largest defense expenditures (almost equal to the next 10 or so countries put together)
Not interested in reading an article that starts with this deliberately misleading "fact".
US spends a lot because it has a huge economy.
Not interested in reading an article that starts with this deliberately misleading "fact".
US spends a lot because it has a huge economy.
>Americans are used to thinking that their nation is special. In many ways, it is: the U.S. has by far the most Nobel Prize winners, the largest defense expenditures (almost equal to the next 10 or so countries put together) and the most billionaires (twice as many as China, the closest competitor).
It's a little over a third of what it was 60 years ago as a percentage of GDP. And this is in line with most other developed nations.
As a percentage of the federal budget, military spending accounts for 16% of the total budget, and 54% of discretionary spending. The US also spends 2-3x more per capita on the military than France, the UK, and Germany.
EDIT: Here's a chart https://www.defenseone.com/politics/2015/06/nato-members-def...
The point is that NATO members agreed in 2006 to spending 2% of their GDP equally and then didn't meet it. They agreed again in 2014 and the ball still hasn't budged.
Pledges are pledges. Whether it's a pledge to cut carbon and stop global warming or a pledge to chip in for the collective defense of everyone. Imagine if everyone decided to cut carbon and then it turned out to be all just hot air. If you don't honor your pledges it will hurt the any sort of future international effort.
Boston Dynamics is trying to.
"And when Berlin decides it will not pony up the promised 2 percent of GDP for its NATO contribution, other laggard countries follow its example. Only six of the 29 NATO members (other than the U.S.) so far have met their promised assessments." https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/07/nato-biggest-challeng...
That's not in any way the meat of the article.
Here's the first paragraph:
> Americans are used to thinking that their nation is special. In many ways, it is: the U.S. has by far the most Nobel Prize winners, the largest defense expenditures (almost equal to the next 10 or so countries put together) and the most billionaires (twice as many as China, the closest competitor). But some examples of American Exceptionalism should not make us proud. By most accounts, the U.S. has the highest level of economic inequality among developed countries. It has the world's greatest per capita health expenditures yet the lowest life expectancy among comparable countries. It is also one of a few developed countries jostling for the dubious distinction of having the lowest measures of equality of opportunity.
If it couldn't secure the global reach of its companies, it wouldn't be an empire
The US military tends to buy things in the USA for obvious reasons. That costs more. One would expect the Chinese military to buy things made in China. That saves money, making the military effort look smaller.
The US military pays for lots of stuff that isn't really military. Consider VA hospitals for veterans. Some countries would count that sort of thing in a military budget, while others would not.