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This isn't entirely true. The US subsidizes military costs for all of our allies. It costs a lot, and a huge amount of funds go to that. There are parts that a

This isn't entirely true. The US subsidizes military costs for all of our allies. It costs a lot, and a huge amount of funds go to that. There are parts that are like jobs programs, and the contractors intentionally drive up costs as part of their business model, but there are also real expenses to maintaining stability across the parts of the world where our military operates.

dsr_ 6y ago
The foreign military aid is also a jobs program. It gives money to US manufacturers by giving money to other countries that they have to use to buy US products.
- KDJohnBrown 6y ago
  The justification for foreign aid to Israel is always pretty much “but it’s OK because most of it comes back to us via arms sales”. Essentially billions of dollars of American taxpayer wealth transferred to defense contractors laundered through the IDF.
  - marshmallow_12 6y ago
    Israel stops Iran from blowing up or conquering the entire Middle East. Also, military intelligence. Also, the military industry is probably more beneficial to the US by being based there rather than being outsourced to China. I think the tax money given to weapons manufactures is paid back in double by tax. Also, you wouldn't want to fight wars with allies in Chinese planes. Hope this answers your concerns.
    - KDJohnBrown 6y ago
      > I think the tax money given to weapons manufactures is paid back in double by tax. Broken windows fallacy.
    - KDJohnBrown 6y ago
      > Israel stops Iran from blowing up or conquering the entire Middle East. The propaganda poster you paint here is dubious. Have you ever looked at a map? Sunni majority nations KSA, Syria, Kuwait, and Turkiye probably have a lot more to do with it than Israel. Having been to every middle eastern / near eastern / Balkan / North African nation except Libya, I’m not too afraid of Iran. Iranians have always treated me better than Israelis or myy my fellow Americans have, even after finding out I’m a queer atheist.
      - marshmallow_12 6y ago
        -I’m not too afraid of Iran. I am. They have sworn to destroy Israel and America. They are developing nuclear weapons to do so. They are funding proxy wars throught the Middle East. They are trying to gain control over syria, iraq, yemen etc. The irgc is probably the best funded terrorist organization in the world https://www.state.gov/foreign-terrorist-organizations/ https://www.state.gov/foreign-terrorist-organizations/ . I'm afraid of Iran. KSA, Syria, Kuwait, and Turkiye probably have a lot more to do with it than Israel. Depends what you look for. Most visible, front- line opposition, certainly. But who does all the high profile bombing and intelligence raids and computer hacking? I think it's Israel. -Iranians have always treated me better than Israelis or myy my fellow Americans have. That's fine! I'm not asking you to hate Iranians, and i'm also not asking you to love Israelis. What i am asking you is to recognize that Iran is a global threat to peace and that Israel can offer the best answer. I think that's true.
        KDJohnBrown 6y ago
        > They are funding proxy wars throught the Middle East. America is funding proxy wars throughout the midde east too. > What i am asking you is to recognize that Iran is a global threat to peace and that Israel can offer the best answer. I think that's true. We are at war with eastasia. We have always been at war with eastasia. Sorry bro, I don’t subscribe to trumpism, zionism or americanism. No nation is more of a global threat to peace than the usa.
        yellowcake0 6y ago
        > They are funding proxy wars throught the Middle East. Would it be more honorable if they just invaded countries in the Middle East instead, the way the US does? Of course the US is funding proxy wars as well. If a beligerant and much more powerful country came across the Atlantic and invaded Mexico and Canada, I know I would want some nukes as a deterrant. Iran couldn't even defeat Iraq during their brutal eight year conflict. Even if Iran wanted to take over the ME, there is zero chance they would be able to.
  - imtringued 6y ago
    The irony is that this is why foreign aid never works. It's mostly spent on weapons and if there is no foe the government can just use the weapons to suppress its own population and thus ask for even more foreign aid. Developed nations don't care because their defense contractors get the money.
sandworm101 6y ago
>>> The US subsidizes military costs for all of our allies. Speaking as one of those allies... not really. Often times US allies spend money they really don't want to in order to keep the US happy. Canada and the UK probably wouldn't have invaded Afghanistan if not for their obligations as US allies. That certainly wasn't cheap. Canada is soon to replace its fighter fleet. Will it buy to cheaper Saab Grippen? Or will it feel obligated to buy the 35, a US program that Canada has paid into (aka subsidized) for many years without actually receiving any aircraft?
- hef19898 6y ago
  Why do you think Germany is looking at the F/A-18 to replace parts of their aging Tornado fleet?
  - wongarsu 6y ago
    Because the Eurofighter can't carry the nuclear bombs that the US has stationed in Germany, and Germany wants to be the one providing the pilots and aircraft that deliver them.
    - secfirstmd 6y ago
      Also the Eurofighter has no decent and built jamming setup compared to the EA-18
      - hef19898 6y ago
        And because the US, needed to certify the free falling nuclear bombs on aircraft, signaled that this certification would take way longer on non US aircraft. Which is, more or less, the main reason. EDIT: I think the F/A-18 is a great choice and one hell of a plane. The other options, a potentially obsolete F-15 and a maybe delivered in time F-35 aren't that great.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- 6y ago
agsamek 6y ago
Read more about petro-dollar scheme. Basically US provides military services to oil producers in exchange for global tax. This is only possible if US is able to retain their military position. So every dollar you think is being subsidized to allied countries is in fact paid back with lots of premium from all countries - both allies and enemies.
- medium_burrito 6y ago
  You do know the US is now the world's #1 oil producer (and food producer).
  - agsamek 6y ago
    Petro-dollar is not about US dependences on oil producers. It is the other way. It is about forcing all countries to using dollars to buy oil. This allows the US to sell dollars and charge for this in various ways. On the other hand it requires the US to keep military control of oil logistics. The advatege for allied oil producers it that they can trade oil more easily. You know - transferring billions of dollars over international sea in the form of oil requires a lot of support from military just to make it happen.
    - spiralx 6y ago
      The "petrodollar" is just an urban myth verging on a conspiracy theory when talking about Iraq, the fact that oil is priced in dollars (and it isn't always) doesn't mean countries need to have dollars to buy oil, it's just a convenient and stable unit of account. You can use Euros to buy oil priced in dollars in the same way you can use Bitcoin to buy drugs priced in dollars.
- voldacar 6y ago
  > Basically US provides military services to oil producers in exchange for global tax. This is only possible if US is able to retain their military position. this is just not how economics works at all

dsr_ 6y ago

The foreign military aid is also a jobs program. It gives money to US manufacturers by giving money to other countries that they have to use to buy US products.

KDJohnBrown 6y ago
The justification for foreign aid to Israel is always pretty much “but it’s OK because most of it comes back to us via arms sales”. Essentially billions of dollars of American taxpayer wealth transferred to defense contractors laundered through the IDF.
- marshmallow_12 6y ago
  Israel stops Iran from blowing up or conquering the entire Middle East. Also, military intelligence. Also, the military industry is probably more beneficial to the US by being based there rather than being outsourced to China. I think the tax money given to weapons manufactures is paid back in double by tax. Also, you wouldn't want to fight wars with allies in Chinese planes. Hope this answers your concerns.
  - KDJohnBrown 6y ago
    > I think the tax money given to weapons manufactures is paid back in double by tax. Broken windows fallacy.
  - KDJohnBrown 6y ago
    > Israel stops Iran from blowing up or conquering the entire Middle East. The propaganda poster you paint here is dubious. Have you ever looked at a map? Sunni majority nations KSA, Syria, Kuwait, and Turkiye probably have a lot more to do with it than Israel. Having been to every middle eastern / near eastern / Balkan / North African nation except Libya, I’m not too afraid of Iran. Iranians have always treated me better than Israelis or myy my fellow Americans have, even after finding out I’m a queer atheist.
    - marshmallow_12 6y ago
      -I’m not too afraid of Iran. I am. They have sworn to destroy Israel and America. They are developing nuclear weapons to do so. They are funding proxy wars throught the Middle East. They are trying to gain control over syria, iraq, yemen etc. The irgc is probably the best funded terrorist organization in the world https://www.state.gov/foreign-terrorist-organizations/ https://www.state.gov/foreign-terrorist-organizations/ . I'm afraid of Iran. KSA, Syria, Kuwait, and Turkiye probably have a lot more to do with it than Israel. Depends what you look for. Most visible, front- line opposition, certainly. But who does all the high profile bombing and intelligence raids and computer hacking? I think it's Israel. -Iranians have always treated me better than Israelis or myy my fellow Americans have. That's fine! I'm not asking you to hate Iranians, and i'm also not asking you to love Israelis. What i am asking you is to recognize that Iran is a global threat to peace and that Israel can offer the best answer. I think that's true.
      - KDJohnBrown 6y ago
        > They are funding proxy wars throught the Middle East. America is funding proxy wars throughout the midde east too. > What i am asking you is to recognize that Iran is a global threat to peace and that Israel can offer the best answer. I think that's true. We are at war with eastasia. We have always been at war with eastasia. Sorry bro, I don’t subscribe to trumpism, zionism or americanism. No nation is more of a global threat to peace than the usa.
      - yellowcake0 6y ago
        > They are funding proxy wars throught the Middle East. Would it be more honorable if they just invaded countries in the Middle East instead, the way the US does? Of course the US is funding proxy wars as well. If a beligerant and much more powerful country came across the Atlantic and invaded Mexico and Canada, I know I would want some nukes as a deterrant. Iran couldn't even defeat Iraq during their brutal eight year conflict. Even if Iran wanted to take over the ME, there is zero chance they would be able to.
- imtringued 6y ago
  The irony is that this is why foreign aid never works. It's mostly spent on weapons and if there is no foe the government can just use the weapons to suppress its own population and thus ask for even more foreign aid. Developed nations don't care because their defense contractors get the money.

sandworm101 6y ago

>>> The US subsidizes military costs for all of our allies. Speaking as one of those allies... not really. Often times US allies spend money they really don't want to in order to keep the US happy. Canada and the UK probably wouldn't have invaded Afghanistan if not for their obligations as US allies. That certainly wasn't cheap. Canada is soon to replace its fighter fleet. Will it buy to cheaper Saab Grippen? Or will it feel obligated to buy the 35, a US program that Canada has paid into (aka subsidized) for many years without actually receiving any aircraft?

hef19898 6y ago
Why do you think Germany is looking at the F/A-18 to replace parts of their aging Tornado fleet?
- wongarsu 6y ago
  Because the Eurofighter can't carry the nuclear bombs that the US has stationed in Germany, and Germany wants to be the one providing the pilots and aircraft that deliver them.
  - secfirstmd 6y ago
    Also the Eurofighter has no decent and built jamming setup compared to the EA-18
    - hef19898 6y ago
      And because the US, needed to certify the free falling nuclear bombs on aircraft, signaled that this certification would take way longer on non US aircraft. Which is, more or less, the main reason. EDIT: I think the F/A-18 is a great choice and one hell of a plane. The other options, a potentially obsolete F-15 and a maybe delivered in time F-35 aren't that great.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
6y ago

agsamek 6y ago

Read more about petro-dollar scheme. Basically US provides military services to oil producers in exchange for global tax. This is only possible if US is able to retain their military position. So every dollar you think is being subsidized to allied countries is in fact paid back with lots of premium from all countries - both allies and enemies.

medium_burrito 6y ago
You do know the US is now the world's #1 oil producer (and food producer).
- agsamek 6y ago
  Petro-dollar is not about US dependences on oil producers. It is the other way. It is about forcing all countries to using dollars to buy oil. This allows the US to sell dollars and charge for this in various ways. On the other hand it requires the US to keep military control of oil logistics. The advatege for allied oil producers it that they can trade oil more easily. You know - transferring billions of dollars over international sea in the form of oil requires a lot of support from military just to make it happen.
  - spiralx 6y ago
    The "petrodollar" is just an urban myth verging on a conspiracy theory when talking about Iraq, the fact that oil is priced in dollars (and it isn't always) doesn't mean countries need to have dollars to buy oil, it's just a convenient and stable unit of account. You can use Euros to buy oil priced in dollars in the same way you can use Bitcoin to buy drugs priced in dollars.
voldacar 6y ago
> Basically US provides military services to oil producers in exchange for global tax. This is only possible if US is able to retain their military position. this is just not how economics works at all