Missile shield cuts, European welfare state in danger?

In the wake of Obama’s controversial missile shield decision, it is important to consider the big picture. America spends a lot of money on military expenditures and both the Right and the Left feel strongly about this figure. As of 2008, America is spending a quarter of it’s expenditures on Defense and about 9% on welfare (this number is important) out of roughly 2.5 Trillion.

Missile defense is the single most expensive DoD project costing over 8 billion dollars annually, twice as much as the F-22 Raptor procurement. (Source: Page 5) with a significant portion of the costs going overseas. It remains unclear how much of that figure is spent on our allies, but that portion needs to be cut.

Moving on to Europe.

In a report on social welfare comparison, citing the OECD as evidence we can see that the major European countries spend considerably more on welfare than we do.

Bloated public spending is often seen as a key fault of the "European Social" model.
Britain’s social welfare spending is, at 22% of GDP, lower than that of Germany
and France (27-29%), according to the OECD. However, the Nordic economies all
fall within this Franco-German 27-29% band, and, significantly, British social
welfare spending remains well ahead of that of the US, which accounts for only
15% of GDP.

Public spending in total amounts to 44% of GDP in Britain, only a little less than in Germany (47%), according to Commission figures. UK public spending is also on the rise - in contrast to the Eurozone where it is falling. Although the European Social model French state budget accounts for well over half of its GDP (54%), and the
‘Anglo-Saxon’ Irish only 35%, there is not great divergence across the EU-25
from the Eurozone average (48%). Poland, one of the key Eastern European
economies said to be aligned with liberal British thinking, has a public spending rate higher than the Eurozone average.

Meanwhile evidence suggests that Europe’s approach to defense spending is less than enthusiastic, with Britain seeing some of the lowest defense spending in half a century. This should hardly be a surprise considering Europe implemented the European Stability and Growth Pact putting a hard cap on deficits in turn driving down defense spending. After all, with such lofty social expenditures who has the time to waste precious Euros on silly expenditures?

Perverse incentives.

Can you blame the Europeans? After all if America continues to provide research and defensive aid where is the incentive? Europe can continue spending mountains of cash on it’s people while experiencing sub-par growth as long as it’s citizens remain happy and relaxed. Meanwhile American students are running amok sputtering all sorts of nonsense about the glories of European socialism and how great life appears to be across the pond. Certainly is a great life when America patrols your defensive borders. Of course this leads to a much more serious problem and one fiscal conservatives can appreciate. When the federal government provides direct subsidies for Medicare based on a poverty line a most tragic thing occurs. People receiving these subsidies are discouraged from seeking work because earning money costs them benefits! They instead prefer to live a meager life and never seek out their potential due to a fear of losing this precious subsidy.

Similarly, Europeans will never be encouraged to divert money into research, military expansion and weaponry because they are already getting the best military aid they can get. Now one could argue that America stands to benefit from shielding it’s allies, but it becomes impossible to quantify our direct gain from this venture. Instead of encouraging our allies to defend for themselves we have assumed the role of world police in the form of a twisted nanny super-state we so much despise. Worse yet, America is vilified by it’s citizenry for out of control spending on defense and chastised for not emulating Europe. We need to cut down our military spending to ensure that all outlays are used for ensuring our safety – not interests – and pay down our deficits. Europe is a big boy and can take care of itself we have our own problems to deal with.