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On the Border, Republicans Set a Trap, Then Fell Into It
(www.nytimes.com)
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this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2024
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politics
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Considering the massive spend in the US for the generally inferior healthcare, starting to wonder if spending is even a good metric for military.
It's a decent one; the US has the ability to project force globally in a way that other countries don't right now.
the US can't now though because half congress are spineless lickspittles hoping to get some green piss trickledown from russian and US oligarchs.
In the event of a Russian attack on NATO, the President already has authority to get US troops involved. Having an actual fight like that tends to create a rally-round-the-flag effect which would make it a lot harder for Republicans to start saying 'no'.
This would also escalate to nuclear before Congress could really change their mind, which is an incredible deterrent for Russia.
I agree spending is not a great indicator. Price of labor is a major cost associated with creating military hardware. China can spend a lot less on their military and get more due to lower labor costs. Percentage of GDP spent on Military might be a better indication? Military personnel, bases, and aircraft carriers are a better metric. Last I heard the US was far ahead of everyone else on the last two cases though.
The two have some links, as well. The full cost of the Vietnam war hit a few decades after the US pulled out. All those veterans started to use their benefits, and a big one is the VA hospital system.
The vets from the first stages of the War on Terror are starting to hit that right about now.
In fact, I believe that to get to the $801B number in the graph above, you have to include vet benefits. Though it'd be a huge chunk of that pie regardless.