Quote:
Originally Posted by slapass
This is something that has always bothered me. Why does the US spend so much on military? The US spends 39% of the world total. 4.4% of our GDP. Saudi Arabia our ally spends more as a % of GDP. Of the top 15 countries only two are not solid allies (China and Russia).
When I was a kid, I was always told it was to protect our interests abroad. When you look at the EU, Japan, China, etc who are out exporting the US then this starts to seem a bit thin. I wonder how much stronger the US economy would be if we didn't waste money on this endeavor?
Edit - link to Wiki - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...y_expenditures |
It's called Industrial Military Complex. During WW2 we contracted normal industrial giants, like Ford & GM to retool their factories to produce tanks and military equipment.
Ford for example actually built B-24 Liberators in their retooled factories. Chrysler Corporation built Sherman Tanks in their factories. Ect..Ect.. While the Auto manufactures could easily go back to producing for the civilians, these other companies found it much harder. (you can only sell so many airplanes to non military customers)
This created lots of profits & jobs, for these companies and a few such as Lockheed, Bell, Boeing.. ect..ect realized there was shitload of money to be made by selling mostly to the Military and working govt contracts and they couldn't grow in the civilian market as easily as they could, by focusing on govt contracts.
They lobbied, and lobbied and lobbied and added with paranoia of a growing commie threat.. well we ended up with large sections of the economy based around providing equipment for the military which turns full circle and becomes self feeding monster so to speak.
As long as there is a perceived threat.. that is.
Watch the documentary "
why we fight".. It's pretty good and covers a lot of this.