Many reasons:
• war-addiciton,
• secrecy of the C.I.A. on its hostile worldwide operations so that any retaliation by harmed foreign nations is easily interpreted as an act of hostility by the American people who were kept in the dark,
• paranoia,
• lobbying by weapons manufacturers,
• etc...
Why does the US spend as much on our military as the rest of nations on this planet combined?
bob
2012/05/07 13:48:13
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Top Opinion
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Kalayaan 001 2012/05/08 05:40:43
I like to look at the cause and not just the effect as you have pointed out.
Defense Spending since 1900
Defense spending in the United States has fluctuated in the last century, rising from one percent of GDP, peaking at 42 percent in World War II, declining from 10 percent in the Cold War to five percent today.
The defense establishment that sent the White Fleet around the world before World War I was tiny, compared to the defense establishment of mid century. It was about 1.25 percent of GDP. Yet this tiny establishment was expanded into an expeditionary army in World War I that consumed over 14 percent of GDP and turned the tide of the war in France. After the war the armed forces were rapidly demobilized and defense spending returned to about 1.25 percent of GDP.
Then in World War II the United States achieved an unprecedented mobilization of resources, and defense spending rose to 42 percent of GDP in 1945. But after the war it never returned to previous levels. From a low of 7.33 percent of GDP in 1948 it doubled to 15 percent at the height of the Korean War in 1953, and was maintained at about 10 percent during the peak of the Cold War through the end of the Vietnam War. Against this the defense buildup during the Reagan era, from 5.6 percen...
Defense Spending since 1900
Defense spending in the United States has fluctuated in the last century, rising from one percent of GDP, peaking at 42 percent in World War II, declining from 10 percent in the Cold War to five percent today.
The defense establishment that sent the White Fleet around the world before World War I was tiny, compared to the defense establishment of mid century. It was about 1.25 percent of GDP. Yet this tiny establishment was expanded into an expeditionary army in World War I that consumed over 14 percent of GDP and turned the tide of the war in France. After the war the armed forces were rapidly demobilized and defense spending returned to about 1.25 percent of GDP.
Then in World War II the United States achieved an unprecedented mobilization of resources, and defense spending rose to 42 percent of GDP in 1945. But after the war it never returned to previous levels. From a low of 7.33 percent of GDP in 1948 it doubled to 15 percent at the height of the Korean War in 1953, and was maintained at about 10 percent during the peak of the Cold War through the end of the Vietnam War. Against this the defense buildup during the Reagan era, from 5.6 percent of GDP in 1979 to 7 percent of GDP in 1986 was modest, and the Bush buildup from 3.6 percent in 1999 to 6 percent in 2010 to fight the first battles against Islamist extremism equally restrained. The plans of the Obama administration show a reduction in spending back to 4.6 percent of GDP by 2015.
• war-addiciton,
• secrecy of the C.I.A. on its hostile worldwide operations so that any retaliation by harmed foreign nations is easily interpreted as an act of hostility by the American people who were kept in the dark,
• paranoia,
• lobbying by weapons manufacturers,
• etc...
Were an foreign country to do such a thing, assuming we had stopped all weapons construction, we still have ICBM's capable of wiping out ANY nation of combination of nations with them.
Seems to me you are just a bit out of touch.
We The People no longer care, or participate in our government, so government has done as it damn well pleases for the past decade.
We The people got better things to do besides watch over our government as we keep voting for the same logic most of the time, and we care more about gas prices than we do our taxes being spent on stupid projects.
If you increased your credit card spending by a couple thousand dollars per month would your lifestyle improve? Of course it would. By going into large amounts of debt, it is possible to live a lifestyle you always dreamed of. Problem is we the people arn't living that lifestyle, the government is, but we are paying for it.
Right now the federal government is stealing approximately 150 million dollars from our children and our grandchildren every single hour.
That's right - the U.S. government is borrowing an astounding 150 million dollars an hour that our children and our grandchildren will be expected to pay back.
It is a theft so vast that it is almost unimaginable.
Our children are suppose to be working when we retire, so we can get our social security, but if taxes are so high they can't live but in poverty, who will want to work?
I know i wouldn't !
Right now our logic is " we w...
We The People no longer care, or participate in our government, so government has done as it damn well pleases for the past decade.
We The people got better things to do besides watch over our government as we keep voting for the same logic most of the time, and we care more about gas prices than we do our taxes being spent on stupid projects.
If you increased your credit card spending by a couple thousand dollars per month would your lifestyle improve? Of course it would. By going into large amounts of debt, it is possible to live a lifestyle you always dreamed of. Problem is we the people arn't living that lifestyle, the government is, but we are paying for it.
Right now the federal government is stealing approximately 150 million dollars from our children and our grandchildren every single hour.
That's right - the U.S. government is borrowing an astounding 150 million dollars an hour that our children and our grandchildren will be expected to pay back.
It is a theft so vast that it is almost unimaginable.
Our children are suppose to be working when we retire, so we can get our social security, but if taxes are so high they can't live but in poverty, who will want to work?
I know i wouldn't !
Right now our logic is " we will face that situation when we get to it ".
And our plitical leaders agree wholeheartedly, because they won't be in office when the tragedy happens, they will be living the lush life on some tropical island, with our money they fleeced!
This is why I'm with the Green Party, because the Green Party want's to change that logic that both democrat and republicans don't !
Because "our" military is the new world orders military under U.N. rule. It takes a lot of money to police the world.