> I'm sure US DoD is worthy of many of its criticisms, including high budget,
That's precisely all that's been criticized here. The high budget of the DoD.
At least for me, the scare quotes around "defense" additionally imply that the US isn't really getting anything defense-related in return for the high budget - as if the money is just being wasted with no ROI.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/262742/countries-with-th...
No, I enjoy not being invaded
The entire post-WWII world order has been to their benefit at our expense.
I’d rather my tax dollars go towards state run health insurance than protecting Germany from Russian shenanigans.
The USD is the world’s reserve currency and the US has benefitted enormously from 75 years of peace in Europe.
The EU has certainly benefited from US protection but even more so has the US, US companies (but sadly not all US citizens), from the US’s position as absolute top dog in the world.
Also the problems with the health care system are unrelated to the cost of the military.
I think you are greatly underestimating or at least greatly under-appreciating the role of USA defense on the world stage. Why do you think EU and other USA allies can get away with spending so little on defense? They are basically outsourcing defense and weapons development to us. F-35 development went way over budget, but actually making one now is relatively cheap and will continue to get cheaper - cheap enough that an ally like Israel could purchase a dozen as a part of their smaller defense budget in the coming decades like they currently do with F-16s. Why is the global shipping industry so much lower risk that it was in decades past? The US Navy protecting shipping lanes is largely to thank.
I'm sure US DoD is worthy of many of its criticisms, including high budget, but it irks me to see the baby so eagerly thrown out with the bathwater at every opportunity.