Mr357 wrote:The U.S. (NATO, really) military-industrial complex is a HUGE business, and their lobbies ensure that our military and defense agencies buy what they want them to, instead of what might actually be best. You can bet that some people made shit loads off of the U.S. invasion of Irag and Afghanistan; around 5 trillion was spent between those two conflicts.
Don't you think that's a bad thing also though? I mean that 5tr could have done a LOT to make the lives of those living in America (who paid some of the taxes that made up that insane amount of money) better, instead of lumping the entire country/tax payers with a huge debt?
US also takes research most seriously, which is why I think their hardware makes them by far the best. This would need some ex-military person to post and verify though...
EU countries are MEANT to pay about 2% of GDP towards NATO, but I think some of them drag their heels and get away with not paying.