- Joined
- Dec 13, 2015
- Messages
- 9,594
- Reaction score
- 2,072
- Location
- France
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Centrist
If Americans abandoned the role of the worlds police, how would that effect their economy? And would the obvious direct benefits of that, outweigh the unforeseen consequences?
That is a role the US assumed willingly. Nobody asked the US to do so. The US took on the role of "Defender of Europe" after the defeat of the Nazis, since Europe was devastated and had to be rebuilt. It then continued in that role, until the Soviet Communist regime toppled.
Due to that historical role, Total US military expenditure is 2.3 times as much as the EU. Whilst US Health Care comparatively is 1.8 times as much, but for a population that is only 63% of the EU.
A comparison (% of GDP):
Defense
*EU - 1.5%
*US - 3.5% (2.3 times as much)
Health Care
*EU - 9.7%
*US - 17.1% (1.8 times as much)
Meaning what? Maybe this:
*The US spends 2.3 times more on DoD. But, it's Defense scope-of-responsibility is much larger than the EU's.
*The EU spends less budget-percentagewise on Health Care but on a population size that is 57% larger.
The US polices the world, and the EU doctors its people. The EU population is getting the better bargain?
Anyway, clearly, "very different strokes for very different folks" ...
____________________________________________
Last edited: