>You do realise that until very recently, America has gained an absurd amount of soft power through this defence spending, right? And was able to convert this s

>You do realise that until very recently, America has gained an absurd amount of soft power through this defence spending, right? And was able to convert this soft power into a lot of GDP through indirect subsidies of its international companies? Just because the current administration has squandered this advantage, doesn't mean you did not get out more than you paid for the last couple of decades. People always claim this, but they're rarely able to give compelling concrete examples. It's hard to say for sure. For all we know, if it weren't for NATO, the US would've been able to sell much more military gear to Europe, since they would have greater need for it. The US economy generally performed quite well in the pre-WW2 era, before NATO was created. I don't think our current relationship with Europe is at all essential.