They do have a similar amount per capita, I believe.

Post #203,880 by folkert 4/19/05 10:11:08 AM Reply	They do have a similar amount per capita, I believe. So, for every 1000 residents they have $MILITARY_SPENDING_PER_1000_RESIDENTS the US does. At least that is what I remember recently seeing. But that could be different now that the "WAR on terrorism and non-jesus believers (or was that jesus non-believers)" has been on for a while. -- [link\|mailto:greg@gregfolkert.net\|greg], [link\|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry\|REMEMBER ED CURRY!] @ *i_wethey* [image\|http://www.danasoft.com/vipersig.jpg\|\|\|\|]
Post #203,881 by Another Scott 4/19/05 10:32:57 AM Reply	Don't think so. Some numbers: [link\|http://www.newdefenceagenda.org/index.html?http://www.newdefenceagenda.org/news_detail.asp?ID=169&frame=yes~main\|Here]: European defense budgets are weighed down with personnel costs at the expense of procurement and research, Keohane said. He cited a 2002 report by U.S. consulting firm McKinsey & Co., which found that EU countries in NATO spent $14,000 per soldier on equipment, while the U.S. spent $44,000. The Europeans spent an average of $4,000 per soldier for research and development, compared with $28,000 spent on the average U.S. soldier. [link\|http://www.aiaa.org/aerospace/Article.cfm?issuetocid=138&ArchiveIssueID=19\|Linky 2]: According to the study, U.S. spending on defense was 3.0% of gross domestic product in 1999, while European countries averaged 2.3%. This compares to 1985 figures of 6.7% for the U.S. and 3.7% for Europe. [...] The U.K. also plans to boost defense spending\ufffdfrom $34.80 billion in 2001-2002 to $37.75 billion in 2003-2004. This is the first real increase in U.K. defense expenditure since 1985. The UK population was [link\|http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=6\|59.6 million in 2003] (giving about $633 per person for defense), compared to ~ [link\|http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html\|296 million] for the US currently. The US Defense Budget was [link\|http://www.google.com/search?q=US+defense+budget&sourceid=mozilla-search&start=0&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8\|$375 B in 2004] (depending on whether you count authorized or what was actually spent) - or ~ $1267 per person. I think the other big countries in Europe generally spend less on defense than the UK does, but I haven't checked the numbers. I don't think it's a new phenomenon, based on the aiaa link quoted above. And it really shouldn't be surprising. The US spends money on things that Europe doesn't - big carriers, lots of troops in Asia, lots of R&D, etc. FWIW. Cheers, Scott.
Post #203,882 by folkert 4/19/05 10:53:35 AM Reply	/me opens mouth, inserts boot -- [link\|mailto:greg@gregfolkert.net\|greg], [link\|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry\|REMEMBER ED CURRY!] @ *i_wethey* [image\|http://www.danasoft.com/vipersig.jpg\|\|\|\|]
Post #203,890 by SpiceWare 4/19/05 11:34:04 AM Reply	How much is because of us? Seems that if we're spending the money, then Europe doesn't have to. [link\|http://slate.msn.com/id/2105295/\|We Have How Many Troops in Europe?] President Bush told the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention on Monday that he planned to move more than 70,000 troops from Cold War-era bases in Europe and Asia to permanent bases on U.S. soil. ... Currently, the United States has 116,400 military personnel from all four services assigned to its European Command How much cash do our bases pump into the European economy? Might be nice to have it pump back into our own. Darrell Spice, Jr. [link\|http://spiceware.org/gallery/ArtisticOverpass\|Artistic Overpass]\n[link\|http://www.spiceware.org/\|SpiceWare] - We don't do Windows, it's too much of a chore
Post #203,924 by JayMehaffey 4/19/05 1:17:42 PM Reply	Not as much as you would think How much cash do our bases pump into the European economy? Might be nice to have it pump back into our own. Not as much as you would expect. In fact, because the base doesn't pay any tax but does use local services they tend to be a net money loser overall for towns in the US. Covering the schooling costs of the children of soldiers living on the base is the big killer. In the US the military pays a special fee to communities to offset the tax loss, but it isn't enough to cover it in full. I dont' know how it really works out in Europe though, I don't know if they pay anything nor do I have any idea how much local services they use. Jay

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