> and now their economies cannot support spending at the levels required for them to catch up, without serious cuts to citizens quality of life. There's a long

> and now their economies cannot support spending at the levels required for them to catch up, without serious cuts to citizens quality of life. There's a long history of crippling economies to fund armies and buy weapons. Frankly, that's how US military spending has worked as well. The country would be much wealthier if it hadn't squandered so much on military spending. We just overlook that effect because the country looks so wealthy overall.