Re:Former President Trump is projected to win the presidency
by ArnoVW on Thursday November 07, 2024 @03:52AM
(#42074904)
Also, the US is the biggest defense exporter, by a large margin: 14B$, with 3B$ for France in second place.
So many of those dollars spent by NATO (by the US and it's partners) come back to the US economy.
Re:Former President Trump is projected to win the presidency
by insane_dreamer on Thursday November 07, 2024 @05:59PM
(#42082061)
> or ~13-14% of federal spending
it's actually 50% percentage of "discretionary spending" (meaning the spending that the government gets to decide how to allocate with without changing social security laws, so essentially the "federal budget"
Total US spending on all defense, not just NATO, is ~$900 billion or ~13-14% of federal spending. NATO has a total annual budget of less than $4 billion and we cover something like 15% of that budget, less than 0.001% of military spending and some infinitesimal portion of overall spend.
> for nothing in return
The US gains incomparable wealth from controlling the global prime currency. Part of the enforcement of this primacy is 750 military bases in 80 countries, giving the US a force projection capability greater than any empire in human history. For the US, NATO is just a just an organizational tool to manage resources among it's allies.