This sort of thing is mentioned so many times that sometimes I just let it roll off me. Other times I just want to explode. I'll try to stay calm, but I find it hard to relax when I read stuff like the following
Even before the costs of the Iraq war and occupation, which themselves exceed $100bn, the United States had a regular defence budget this year of $334bn. The sum is larger than the combined defence spending totals of the 10 next largest military powers on the planet. . . . To call the US a militaristic culture may be an exaggeration, but it is a pardonable one. This massive investment forms the bedrock of an intense national feeling in America about its armed forces. Pride in the military has become an essential theme in the national story, from George Washington to George Bush, represented in movies, monuments and an immense range of military literature.Where do I start? What country is not proud of their military forces? The Irish are proud of their military. Does The Guardian really want to claim that the British are any less proud of their forces? Gimme a break.
It is because the US is NOT a militaristic society that we are so proud of our military. We know that the people in the Army, Navy & Air Force are almost entirely regular folks who would like nothing better than to be at home all the time, rather than at war. The US is NOT Sparta. We do not breed knights for war. And, it is this very truth that explains the proliferation of books & movies about wars. Mostly these are stories of remarkable feats of endurance or courage in extreme circumstances performed by your "average Joe".
Secondly, this spending business is a canard. China is definitely one of the US's rivals on the world stage. China spends 4.3% of its GDP on defense. China's not a democracy and is not required to publish the full budgetary facts. One expert believes that real spending by China could be 2-5 times the published amount.
Obviously, what the Chinese (or Russians or Indians or Pakistanis ) pay in salaries to their soldiers & sailors is not comparable with what a US soldier or sailor would be paid. And, assuming that "operations and maintenance" is mostly human activity (and not equipment) then 63-64% of the US defense budget goes to wages. Therefore, when talking about gross amounts spent and not percentages of GDP, the only legitimate comparisons that can be made are with other countries that pay similar wages. That means - the EU, Japan, Canada & Australia.
I've previously mentioned that US defense spending is at 3.5% of GDP (well down on the 80s), but the EU has continued to allow defense spending as a percentage of GDP to fall. Japan is essentially demilitarized and the EU & Canada are heading that direction.
It's not that the US is a militaristic culture (that's not even a "pardonable" exaggeration), but rather that much of the first world is heading off into pacifist fantasy land. {Australia spends 2.9% of its GDP on defense, which puts it ahead of all EU countries other than Greece.}
