Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by Workaccount2 438 days ago
The defense budget is a social support program that conservatives will agree to. Rather than just providing people a basic income and healthcare directly, they add the hoop of holding down a job to access it.

It also is meant to keep American industry active (to some degree) in case it is needed.
2 comments
SJC_Hacker 438 days ago
No one else can project conventional military force anywhere on the global like the US. China is getting there but not quite yet. India and Russia are still regional.

The Europeans couldn't deal with a few land pirates practically in their backyard.

link
roenxi 435 days ago
If the US has convinced itself that able-bodied young men who are good at following orders are the people who need social support then it is quite a bit worse than mere waste. That is $800 billion spent keeping the US's best labour out of the labour force.

The US isn't sending sad cases over to Japan to cash welfare checks.

link