DEFENSE SPENDING AS PERCENT OF GDP

A recent report shows how much ahead the U.S. is relative to other countries in defense spending as percent of GDP:*

(Click to Enlarge)

Note that only four countries are spending at least 2% of their GDP on armed forces, the recommended number.  They have another figure giving the amount of defense spending for each country in British Pounds that looks even more dramatic.

Of course here in the U.S., there are those who feel that we could never spend enough on defense.  One of our problems is that we have our forces spread all over the world and have done so since WW-II.  If your goal is to preserve American favorability in trade (imports as well as exports), then you must maintain huge armed forces.  And then we "must" continue to develop new and more expense "defense" items in case of another world war.

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http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/ampp3d/nato-summit-members-not-pulling-4156751