Fact of the Day: U.S. Defense Spending Dwarfs Rest Of The World

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blackascoal

The Force is With Me
The United States spends 58 percent of the total defense dollars paid out by the world's top 10 military powers, which combined for $1.19 trillion in military funding in 2011. With its unparalleled global reach, the US outspends China, the next-biggest military power, by nearly 6-to-1.

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I would imagine most people already knew this. That said, no harm in reminding people just how much we could cut from defense and still be more than double anyone else.
 
Fun supposition based on said fact. We spend so much on defense so our primary allies, Europe, do not have to. Therefore one could argue, that if we didn't spend money, Europe would. And they would then be both unable to afford their welfare states, AND would almost certainly be embroiled in more continental conflicts, like ones that dominated Europe until WW2.

Now, while I believe this, I also don't give a damn about Europe and think we should pull out of there completely and let them fend for themselves.
 
The serious problem with spending that kind of money in armements is that history has shown that those arms tend to get used. The other scary though it what would happen to our economy if we stopped spending $300 billion in defence and put ourselves back to pre-911 spending.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
The serious problem with spending that kind of money in armements is that history has shown that those arms tend to get used. The other scary though it what would happen to our economy if we stopped spending $300 billion in defence and put ourselves back to pre-911 spending.
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Those industries will manage. They did long before 9/11.
 
Lucius Cornelius Sulla said:
Those industries will manage. They did long before 9/11.
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True, I agree, but how many people are you talking about tossing out into the unemployment line and what are the political consequences of doing that? That's the trap our politicians are in and it's harder than fuck to get out of.....that is if you want to remain in office.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
The serious problem with spending that kind of money in armements is that history has shown that those arms tend to get used. The other scary though it what would happen to our economy if we stopped spending $300 billion in defence and put ourselves back to pre-911 spending.
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A fair bit of the spending goes towards keeping unemployment down especially in very poor areas where there are military bases.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
True, I agree, but how many people are you talking about tossing out into the unemployment line and what are the political consequences of doing that? That's the trap our politicians are in and it's harder than fuck to get out of.....that is if you want to remain in office.
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Comparatively few. While many industries contract for defense (my own company among them), it's often not the sole business of those companies.
 
Aoxomoxoa said:
What would be the effect if you closed down a load of military bases in the US tomorrow?
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Oh you should have heard the crying and wailing in the early 90's when a bunch of cold war era bases were closed down as part of the peace dividend from the cold war ending. There's no real sustainable reason for us to keep spending in excess of what we spent during the cold war. We wasted a ton of money trying to develop the infrastructure in Iran and Afghanistan. Just imagine the economic spin off if we spent 1/4 that much money on our own infrastructure which desperatly needs it.
 
Superfreak said:
Poor areas with US Military bases... he must be talking about western European US bases
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or the middle east bases or the asian bases, or in africa, or in south america.

The US has a military presence on every continent except Antarctica, apparently we're at risk of invasion from, everywhere, which says something about how much we trust the diplomats, for america military action will always be the first, last and most preferable option of dealing with people.
 
It is my proposal, and has been for some time now, that we close ALL overseas bases except Diego Garcia (which I'm pretty sure is our island anyways). Let the rest of the world fend for themselves. They would decry us as "policing the world" yet gleefuly accept our bases. Fuck them and their hypocracy.
 
Lucius Cornelius Sulla said:
It is my proposal, and has been for some time now, that we close ALL overseas bases except Diego Garcia (which I'm pretty sure is our island anyways). Let the rest of the world fend for themselves. They would decry us as "policing the world" yet gleefuly accept our bases. Fuck them and their hypocracy.
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I love this idea, leave the people to handle things on their own. It's wonderful, leave people alone and they'll probably leave you alone? When was the last time switzerland got bombed?

As for the idea that the europeans need our protection... Protection from what? For the first time EVER the europeans are trying out peace, they need our protection from the... other peaceful europeans? Get over yourself america, go back to isolationism, and don't come out until somebody actually drops a nuke.
 
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