Re:Latvia wants permanent U.S. troops, foreign minister tell...
by criley2 on Monday March 07, 2022 @11:37AM
(#30589913)
For the record, the combined E.U. GDP in 2021 was $17.1 trillion USD, while the U.S. GDP in 2021 was $20.94 trillion USD.
Even so, U.S. military spending is $768 billion or ~3.7% of GDP, while E.U. spending was around $220 billion in 2020, or about ~1.5%.
Re:Latvia wants permanent U.S. troops, foreign minister tell...
by michaelt on Monday March 07, 2022 @12:23PM
(#30590585)
You're right, I was thinking of pre-Brexit EU GDP figures.
Re:Latvia wants permanent U.S. troops, foreign minister tell...
by nebula8804 on Monday March 07, 2022 @12:39PM
(#30590859)
>And America is a democracy - so at any time they could elect someone who puts America first and doesn't value an alliance with a bunch of weak, argumentative allies.
This will not happen at least until the baby boomer generation dies off. In the last election we saw clear as day how suppressed any candidate outside the mainstream really is. (Not talking about Trump but Sanders).
I believe there is a large population of pissed off Americans that want to end this arrangement but they are not going to be able to exert their power until the generation that greatly benefited from the US being world police finally kicks the bucket.
But some would say at present, the EU is the junior power in the EU-USA military relationship, despite its greater GDP; and that it's embarrassing we can't do our fair share.
And America is a democracy - so at any time they could elect someone who puts America first and doesn't value an alliance with a bunch of weak, argumentative allies. Or someone with an appetite for spreading freedom abroad, who resents their allies not being at their side.