Military Defense Spending and Budgets by Country:

[elocs]

http://www.globalfirepower.com/defense-spending-budget.asp

I added them up and the United States spends more on defense than the next 12 countries combined. I think that's more than excessive and overkill and we certainly could find, as Carl Sagan would say, billions and billions of dollars to cut from that area. Eisenhower sure had it right in his farewell address.

[Warren Stupidity]

1. Freaking insanity.

By the way, the 2009 numbers do not include war spending and veterans benefits.

[Scuba]

2. How many of those 12 are allies?

[elocs]

6. I reckon most of them except for China and North Korea.

All of those billions didn't help to stop the terrorists on 9/11.

[Scuba]

10. China is an ally. We're their largest market.

[L0oniX]

3. Defense? ...more like offense.

Looks like someone changed Wikipedia which used to say that the US spent 1.03 trillion in 2010. Oh well ...let's just fix the facts.

[elocs]

5. According to the link (you did check the link?) the info is up to 2009.

I've read different figures elsewhere as well. The point is that we spend many, many billions more than we need to spend on the military compared to the rest of the world.

[nc4bo]

4. I feel sick.

:puke:

And the motherfockers have no problem killing Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, or any other "entitlement" that takes away from their precious MIC. Let's not even discuss not being able to afford a Single Payer system or providing adequate finances to our school systems.

It is an abomination.

[elocs]

7. I thought of this after reading how the Obama cuts would "gut" the defense:

McKeon: Obama cuts would gut U.S. defense:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/2011-04-28-McKeon-blasts-Obama-defense-cuts_n.htm

[indepat]

8. But the rub is that no other country is burdened with exerting global hegemony,

or being the world's policeman, or overthrowing governments' whose politics are deemed even a tad left of center, or always being Johnnie-on-the-spot. :patriot:

[FormerDittoHead]

9. I liked this chart too.

from: http://defendingthepublicgood.org/2011/04/18/the-real-american-exceptionalism/

[crickets]

11. War is a racket, BUT

as I saw another DUer point out today (can't remember who, sorry): war is a market.

War is a market, and apparently the powers that be have decided it's the best market EVER, even better now that they've been privatizing for a while. It doesn't even matter what the plunder is--although it's always some pretty sweet swag for the fat corporations sliding in after the military opens the door.

Just the mounting of war alone is a huge market, and boy do we have it cornered.