The amount of money the U.S. has contributed to NATO over 7 years.

[Mello_SixtyNine]

$5,528,898,100,000 (4.81% - 2010, 4.77% - 2011, 4.42% - 2012, 4.08% - 2013, 3.78% - 2014, 3.58% - 2015, 3.61% - 2016, & 3.58% - 2017)

If we had paid the agreed upon GDP percentage of 2%, then we only would have paid:

$2,742,760,000,000 which would have saved U.S. taxpayers 2.78 trillion. We could have completely repaired our crumbling infrastructure with that money.

 

[chillywilly2]

Suckers...you voted for trump for prez too...lol

 

[doowdniw]

I wonder how much infrastructure we could have built if we hadn't invaded Iraq.

 

[Que]

Vote Ron Paul for President November, 2000.

Vote early; vote often people.

 

[Mello_SixtyNine]

I wonder how much infrastructure we could have built if we hadn't invaded Iraq.

I think it would be around 6-7 trillion.

 

[von_Bismarck]

It's a bit disingenuous to equate defense spending with contributions to NATO. I thought it was mostly those on the 'far left' who wanted to slash the military budget by half.

 

[Vman55]

Liberals, lol

 

[Que]

To put it in perspective though the national treasury would be far fatter if, rather than avoiding all that industrial military complex spending if we had simply fired Obama and hired the guy with both a Harvard law degree and a Harvard MBA to do a structured worout so that what is now the Trump recovery would have started five years ago instead of a year ago.

On the other hand, the profligate spending in the latest Republican budget probably dwarfs all of the above for fiscal stupidity.

 

[Mello_SixtyNine]

Suckers...you voted for trump for prez too...lol

Trump may be nuts, but in this instance he's right in forcing those 28 Europeans to pay the 2% that they are supposed to. Besides the U.S., there are only four other countries that contribute 2% of their GDP. Prior to 2015, it was just two countries.

 

[beew]

Finally, a thread that could go somewhere.

A while back I read this post written by Jack Luis in the Political Forum:
That US's latest external policies (proxy wars included) had one main goal: to maintain the relevance of US currency, thus it's economic hegemony in the face of China's competition via the yuen, The Belt and so on.


I'm baffled and frustrated that nobody on the GB ever commented on THAT aspect.
Instead of that, most political threads are now popullated by numbskulling "Trump sucks versus Hillary sucks" by trolls or alts.
I root for such a discussion but I don't have the knowledge to be able to start such a discussion or thread myself.

 

[oggbashan]

How much of the US's money is spent buying equipment and supplies from US defence companies?

Other NATO countries have to buy some or most of their equipment from the US.

The spend in America is driven by lobbying...

 

[chillywilly2]

Trump may be nuts, but in this instance he's right in forcing those 28 Europeans to pay the 2% that they are supposed to. Besides the U.S., there are only four other countries that contribute 2% of their GDP. Prior to 2015, it was just two countries.

He didn't force anything...its like saying yes to the wife to shut her up
Trudeau said he would get to the 2% within the next 10 years...yup, thats really forcing him
With any luck the dummy will be gone in a year

 

[about_average]

The amount of money the U.S. has contributed to NATO over 7 years

LMAO
The US doesn't spend it's entire DoD budget on NATO.

He didn't force anything...its like saying yes to the wife to shut her up
Trudeau said he would get to the 2% within the next 10 years...yup, thats really forcing him
With any luck the dummy will be gone in a year

Of course Trump lied about his "accomplishments".

 

[chillywilly2]

LMAO
The US doesn't spend it's entire DoD budget on NATO.


Of course Trump lied about his "accomplishments".

Trump doesn't lie, he just has a different reality than most people

 

[BotanyBoy]

It's a bit disingenuous to equate defense spending with contributions to NATO.

LMAO
The US doesn't spend it's entire DoD budget on NATO.

True true....but it's also a bit disingenuous to consider NATO anything but a joke without the US military backing it.

 

[run_silent]

Nato is just basic human instinct. We want it but we don't want to pay for it. The US pays four percent while most other nations say it's hard to pay 2. Then the other countries get upset that the US says we are tired of paying for you. No one is threatening to invade the US but the rest of you guys...............

 

[DeYaKen]

$5,528,898,100,000 (4.81% - 2010, 4.77% - 2011, 4.42% - 2012, 4.08% - 2013, 3.78% - 2014, 3.58% - 2015, 3.61% - 2016, & 3.58% - 2017)

If we had paid the agreed upon GDP percentage of 2%, then we only would have paid:

$2,742,760,000,000 which would have saved U.S. taxpayers 2.78 trillion. We could have completely repaired our crumbling infrastructure with that money.

This is actually rubbish NATO has never received such sums from the US or anywhere else. The figures you quote are your defence expenditure. The results of this expenditure, troops and equipment are not exclusively available to NATO. They are used for all the USA's other escapades around the world. Places like Iraq Syria and Afganistan where NATO is not involved.

You are quite right that you could have done a lot of good things with that money. Unfortunately, the defence industries seem to have a stranglehold on successive governments so defence expenditure stays high.

Now, look at the other side. If you cut back on your defence spending you would have to find jobs for all those troops. The reduction in spending means that the companies supplying equipment and services to those troops would cut back production so the troops would come back to a shrinking economy. You could use the troops or out of work military supply workers on capital infrastructure projects but they would require extensive retraining which would eat up a lot of your 2.78 trillion. Of course, all those people no longer being employed would mean less tax being collected so you would have less to spend on anything.

 

[Mello_SixtyNine]

LMAO
The US doesn't spend it's entire DoD budget on NATO.


Of course Trump lied about his "accomplishments".

The chart that shows the percentage that NATO members contributed from 2010-2017. The chart and stats come directly from NATO.
That is where I got the U.S. percentages:
(4.81% - 2010, 4.77% - 2011, 4.42% - 2012, 4.08% - 2013, 3.78% - 2014, 3.58% - 2015, 3.61% - 2016, & 3.58% - 2017)

 

[Bad_Doggie]

$5,528,898,100,000 (4.81% - 2010, 4.77% - 2011, 4.42% - 2012, 4.08% - 2013, 3.78% - 2014, 3.58% - 2015, 3.61% - 2016, & 3.58% - 2017)

If we had paid the agreed upon GDP percentage of 2%, then we only would have paid:

$2,742,760,000,000 which would have saved U.S. taxpayers 2.78 trillion. We could have completely repaired our crumbling infrastructure with that money.

Cite?

Is that direct spending or indirect spending? At first blush that looks like you’re confusing the 2…….just like your leader; so isn’t what you contributed to NATO at all!

As for Trump’s other lie NATO countries have not started to increase spending since he came to office. The 2014 Wales agreement was all NATO countries would spend 2% of GDP by 2024 and since then most have been increasing spending towards meeting that target.

What he’s trying to do is claim credit for something that was agreed and happening before he was POTUS and using false figures to justify it and bully for more…….please don’t tell me you’re surprised!

The decision to spend of 3.6% of GDP is a domestic one to satisfy your military complex and hawkish congress/voters.

Woof!

 

[von_Bismarck]

The chart that shows the percentage that NATO members contributed from 2010-2017. The chart and stats come directly from NATO.
That is where I got the U.S. percentages:
(4.81% - 2010, 4.77% - 2011, 4.42% - 2012, 4.08% - 2013, 3.78% - 2014, 3.58% - 2015, 3.61% - 2016, & 3.58% - 2017)

Those are defense expenditures as percentage of GDP.

 

[Bad_Doggie]

The chart that shows the percentage that NATO members contributed from 2010-2017. The chart and stats come directly from NATO.
That is where I got the U.S. percentages:
(4.81% - 2010, 4.77% - 2011, 4.42% - 2012, 4.08% - 2013, 3.78% - 2014, 3.58% - 2015, 3.61% - 2016, & 3.58% - 2017)

That's indirect spending and covers all your other escapades.

https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_67655.htm

Woof!

 

[Wrong Element]

The chart that shows the percentage that NATO members contributed from 2010-2017. The chart and stats come directly from NATO.
That is where I got the U.S. percentages:
(4.81% - 2010, 4.77% - 2011, 4.42% - 2012, 4.08% - 2013, 3.78% - 2014, 3.58% - 2015, 3.61% - 2016, & 3.58% - 2017)

You're comparing the defense budgets of Norway and Bulgaria to the budget of a country that has a global military. It's apples and oranges.

Besides, deciding what is a "NATO contribution" of the U.S. isn't always cut and dried. Our military is all over Germany, but they have functions beyond defending Western Europe. I guess we could tell the Germans, "We're pulling out of NATO and leaving you on your own, but we'd kinda like to keep Ramstein if you're OK with that." I'm sure it would go over well.

Those are defense expenditures as percentage of GDP.

Important to point out, because what we were spending on defense as a percentage of GDP has dropped during the decade in large part because the economy has been growing.

Saying that a country should spend a set percentage of its GDP on its military regardless of need is silly. The need should drive the budget. If our economy doubled in size tomorrow, I doubt we'd suddenly have twice the defense concerns.

 

[Liar]

Is NATO somehow telling the United States to spend 4-5% of it's GDP on defense?

 

[run_silent]

Is NATO somehow telling the United States to spend 4-5% of it's GDP on defense?

Nope, but if we said we are cutting our contribution to 2% they would get very loud.

 

[phrodeau]

Vote Ron Paul for President November, 2000.

Vote early; vote often people.

Right-wingers encouraging voter fraud. All too common.