Eli5: Why does the US spend so much money on military?
In:
To keep the peace.
I’m in no way pro-military, but the US put itself in a situation where it needs to spend tons on military otherwise many places in the world would erupt into war. 2 examples:
Why doesn’t China invade Taiwan? Because the US Navy is protecting it and would intervene.
Why doesn’t North Korea invade South Korea? Because South Korea is a US ally and the US would intervene.
The US is actually [obliged to protect 67 countries](http://mentalfloss.com/article/65816/67-countries-us-obliged-go-war). In some cases this agreement is mutual (NATO), but not all of them. Iceland, for example, has no standing military and has a defense treaty with the US.
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