[georgeecollins]

Yet US defense spending vs GDP is nearly the lowest it has ever been in the last fifty years. If defense spending v GDP is a sign of a falling empire, we fell in 1960.

Plus seriously, if you think spending 4% of GDP will cause a country or "empire" to collapse you need to read some history books.

Source:

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/MS.MIL.XPND.GD.ZS?locat...

[vGPU]

The argument can easily be made that the US began its period of decades-long decline right around then.