Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I understand why the Founding Fathers did not want a standing army. www.georgiapeace.org/USvsWorld2004Top25.gif You're a fucking dumbass then. The founding fathers did not want a standing army because of the capacity o the government to use that army against the people. Posting during your menstrual cycle does not relfect well on you. Get fucked. Whatever you are paying for your education over there in Italy, I suggest you ask for a refund.

Clearly you really need to switch to a new OBGYN.

Quoted: Quoted: I understand why the Founding Fathers did not want a standing army. www.georgiapeace.org/USvsWorld2004Top25.gif You know why that number is so high? Because there's 5 Chinese for every one of us.  And they lie about their military spending. I really want to say something else to you now, but the C of C forbids it.

Even though this

Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor or caprice? --George Washington, from his farewell address (link)

is my sig line on other sites, I will likely always welcome spending in that area.

I just wish someone would do some slash-and-burn type stuff on almost all other areas of the budget.

Quoted: I understand why the Founding Fathers did not want a standing army. www.georgiapeace.org/USvsWorld2004Top25.gif

Apparently not, because it wasn't about the money. The issue was a fear of the army being used against the people.

BTW, your graph is meaningless. The only valid comparison is one of military spending as a percentage of GDP.

www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2034rank.html

Quoted: Quoted: I understand why the Founding Fathers did not want a standing army. www.georgiapeace.org/USvsWorld2004Top25.gif Apparently not, because it wasn't about the money. The issue was a fear of the army being used against the people. BTW, your graph is meaningless. The only valid comparison is one of military spending as a percentage of GDP. www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2034rank.html

I would submit that this is not *entirely* accurate.  Certainly, it is the best "figure" for comparison between countries.

That said, what percentage of the U.S. budget does military/defense spending take up?  You can use that measure without comparison to any other country, strictly as an internal measure.  You can *also* turn that around and use it for comparison between countries.

I would be comfortable with it as long as it wasn't over 50% (at current spending/budgetary rates).  I would ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY *LOVE* IT if military/defense spending was 80% of the overall/total budget, at ideal spending/budgetary rates for all other expenditures.


ETA: I would imagine that what the two different "figures" would tell you is:

Percent of GDP: How much emphasis is placed on military build-up, compared to total production.
Percent of budget: How important, overall, this spending category is deemed to be.

Quoted:

Apparently not, because it wasn't about the money. The issue was a fear of the army being used against the people.
Which would be easy to do with an almost half trillion dollar budget.

BTW, your graph is meaningless. The only valid comparison is one of military spending as a percentage of GDP.
No, your point is meaningless. A half trillion is a half trillion. The Founders never mentioned "as a percentage of GDP"

So according to you, if our GDP was ten times what it is now, then you would support a 5 trillion dollar defense budget. Yeah, that makes sense.