Mr Fint you have been instilled with the National Security State mantra that has been the conventional wisdom since the end of WW2. President Eisenhower if you recall was a 5 Star, warned as he left the stage, "Beware of the Military Industrial Complex." The whole agenda of the MIC is to promote fear of a "dangerous world" so that they can keep siphoning off dollars in the form of military budgets to protect us. The US has in fact subsidized Europe, Japan and even China with the US umbrella of military protection. This has in fact worked for the benifit of the USA as it worked for Rome. However Ameirca is fast coming to the point where it will not be able to afford the bullets for the rifles and exactly what good is that defense going to do for you if the cupboard is stripped bare?
No doubt the world is a dangerous place, it always has been and always will be. Perhaps one should take to heart the old military axiom that he who trys to defend everything in the end winds up defending nothing. Or as Clint said, "A man has got to know his limits."
Very astute, Tabs. You forgot Canada btw. We have the ultimate umbrella because we were also your compliant buffer during the Cold War. But you are very right. Any discussion of a reduction in debt has to involve a major disruption of the MIC, which is a tough pill for to take for many.