[Synaesthesia]

Militarism is a colossal waste of taxpayer money.

[filoleg]

Not when you have a few adversarial nation-states around the corner that do not consider it a waste of taxpayer money.

[hctaw]

A $10 billion investment in anti aircraft missiles that forces a $100 billion investment in aircraft instead of schools and semiconductor fabs is great ROI for an adversarial nation state that knows their government would be wiped off the face of the planet if they ever decided to use them.

[ktln2]

Modern AA missile systems are also very expensive - a S-400 battery cost you $500 million. [1]

[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/19/russia-lures-buyers-as-s-400...

[nickik]

Nukes and rockets exist.

[some_random]

Well, that's not really what's being discussed here.

[ktln2]

For many countries they have no choice - you either spend the money on Military or you get invaded by Russia/China/North Korea.

[Synaesthesia]

Not really the case for the USA. Its military is way larger than needed for defensive purposes. Heck it isnt even threatened by invasion by any of those countries.