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It's not particularly true outside the US though, most NATO members spend less than the 2%, and here in the UK the army is down to 30k or so staff. In a nation of 70 million. If total war were to break out, how long could the UK survive?
Meanwhile NHS spending as a % of GDP rose even under the conservatives, although this figure doesn't take into account an aging population.
Don't worry, your ruling class benefits plenty from our invasions too 😘
Part of the post ww2 division of labor. The US would keep its war industry and become western capitalism's primary enforcement arm worldwide, letting its allies or defeated clients host US military bases and develop consumer products industries.
Yah the reason Europeans have stuff like free education and healthcare is because the US does all their dirty work. Iraq is a perfect example. The US took very little oil for itself, continuing to rely on South American and domestic fossil fuels. But Iraq wasn't keeping its oil for itself, it was all being siphoned off to Britain, France, Norway, Germany, etc.
European NATO allies have begun hitting 2% targets in recent years and there are heated debates about going way above that in multiple capitals.
https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_49198.htm
I will note that in the UK case the situation described in the picture is particularly grotesque, if you consider the development of food bank statistics. The Trussel Trust distributed 3.1 million food parcels in 2023/2024, of these 1.1 million to children.
In 2008/2009 the number of parcels distributed was 26'000.
https://www.trusselltrust.org/news-and-blog/latest-stats/end-year-stats/
https://www.statista.com/statistics/382695/uk-foodbank-users/
it's not true inside the US either. The military gets like 17% of the total budget, and healthcare spending is like 50% of the budget.