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With all that money you also need to buy the stupidly largest army in the world so if anyone has a problem with your debt you can solve that problem militarily.

briandear 7y ago
The US military is not the largest army in the world, China is, followed by India. The US isn’t even in the top 15 by percentage of government spending. Not even in the top 15 as a percentage of GDP.
- hirsin 7y ago
  The US still spends more than any other country on Earth and indeed more than almost all of them combined. Any random country can spend more by GDP or by percent, but by dollar the US is the clear largest spender. Focusing on those two points does say.. something, but it doesn't rebut the point being made, and does serve to obfuscate it.
- astrodust 7y ago
  Most countries have, at most, one or two aircraft carriers, maybe four little ones if they're really ambitious like France or Japan. These are the pinnacle of power projection and are extraordinarily expensive to build, own and operate. The United States has eleven of the largest carriers in the world and a bunch more that are smaller that are still bigger than what other countries consider a carrier. That's an example of how disproportionate it is in terms of overall size. Not manpower, not GDP percentage, just size. Where other countries have one or two of something the United States has at least ten. This goes for planes, tanks, cruisers, helicopters, missiles, pretty much whatever, they've got more.
  - Bendingo 7y ago
    > other countries have one or two of something the United States has at least ten. This goes for planes, tanks, cruisers, helicopters, missiles, pretty much whatever This is correct except for tanks [0], where Russia has about 3 times more than US. This is not unexpected, given that no-one is going to invade US by land, and that Russia has been repeatedly invaded by land. [0] https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Military/Army/Main-battle-tanks https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Military/Arm...?
- nojvek 7y ago
  You have a source for this? AFAIK US has the largest army in terms of spend and deployed troops. We spend more than the next 7 countries combined. https://www.visualcapitalist.com/u-s-military-personnel-deployments-country/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/u-s-military-personnel-depl...

briandear 7y ago

The US military is not the largest army in the world, China is, followed by India. The US isn’t even in the top 15 by percentage of government spending. Not even in the top 15 as a percentage of GDP.

hirsin 7y ago
The US still spends more than any other country on Earth and indeed more than almost all of them combined. Any random country can spend more by GDP or by percent, but by dollar the US is the clear largest spender. Focusing on those two points does say.. something, but it doesn't rebut the point being made, and does serve to obfuscate it.
astrodust 7y ago
Most countries have, at most, one or two aircraft carriers, maybe four little ones if they're really ambitious like France or Japan. These are the pinnacle of power projection and are extraordinarily expensive to build, own and operate. The United States has eleven of the largest carriers in the world and a bunch more that are smaller that are still bigger than what other countries consider a carrier. That's an example of how disproportionate it is in terms of overall size. Not manpower, not GDP percentage, just size. Where other countries have one or two of something the United States has at least ten. This goes for planes, tanks, cruisers, helicopters, missiles, pretty much whatever, they've got more.
- Bendingo 7y ago
  > other countries have one or two of something the United States has at least ten. This goes for planes, tanks, cruisers, helicopters, missiles, pretty much whatever This is correct except for tanks [0], where Russia has about 3 times more than US. This is not unexpected, given that no-one is going to invade US by land, and that Russia has been repeatedly invaded by land. [0] https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Military/Army/Main-battle-tanks https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Military/Arm...?
nojvek 7y ago
You have a source for this? AFAIK US has the largest army in terms of spend and deployed troops. We spend more than the next 7 countries combined. https://www.visualcapitalist.com/u-s-military-personnel-deployments-country/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/u-s-military-personnel-depl...