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France and the UK got their own nukes. The rest of NATO got American nukes. And many NATO countries have pretty advanced militaries. Not large ones in absolute
by mcv 3y ago
France and the UK got their own nukes. The rest of NATO got American nukes.
And many NATO countries have pretty advanced militaries. Not large ones in absolute numbers, because they're not large countries, but absolutely more advanced than most non-NATO countries with very few exceptions (like Sweden).
My point, however, is about your claim that all of this somehow subsidised social programs. Those social programs exist independently from US protection. Nobody denies that the US guaranteed the freedom of western Europe (and many other countries around the world). But that and social programs are two completely separate things.
- weard_beard 3y agoIn America they are definitely NOT separate. Our outsized military spending is a direct syphon of social spending. We even have common phrases like, "that will happen when teachers get all the money they need and the airforce has to hold a fundraiser bake-sale" meaning "when hell freezes over".
- mcv 3y agoAnd yet the military expenditure is also used as social spending. Much of military spending is about job creation. It's the one field of manufacturing that never left the country.