No. of Recommendations: 15
We’ve “changed” in that we’re asking the desdbeat 26 year old to move out of the basement and get a job.
Not even close. The EU and the rest of the OECD have a higher combined GDP than we do. Collectively they have higher military expenditures than we do. They may be in something of a subordinate role to us - after all we are the leaders of the free world - but nothing analogous to being the deadbeat child of us as parents. And we rely on them as partners in a host of endeavors, from sharing of intelligence and military installations to cooperation in establishing and enforcing all of the international treaties and agreements that allow us so much wealth.
And we benefitted from them being subordinate to us. We wanted Japan to demilitarize, and we were comparatively stronger because the Great Powers of Europe aren't on a war footing against each other. One benefit of Pax Americana was that the Europeans couldn't light their continent on fire over some foolishness in the Balkans or what have you. But we're going to change that - we want everyone else the world to start getitng stronger relative to us. So now, we're encouraging all the people who aren't us to build up their armies again. For some reason that completely escapes me, we're choosing to encourage them to beef up their domestic arms manufacturing - even though military arms exports are one of our most important export industries (several hundred billion per year).
Yeah, not like asking your deadbeat to move out. We're breaking up with our longtime business partner, even though that arrangement has been unbelievably successful for us, making us the most successful businessman on earth. And we're cutting loose a quite capable person. Oh, sure - perhaps not at our level - but certainly a force in the field. And we're encouraging him to start competing against us. So we can't be quite surprised when he starts exploring deals without us.
Part of the blinkered nature of "American First" is thinking that the U.S. gains so little from our longtime allies...even to conceiving of them as a "deadbeat 26-year-old."
