In 2012, the U.S. approved a defense budget of 645.7 billion dollars. That amount also included funding for the Pentagon, the Department of Energy-administered nuclear weapons activities, and the war in Afghanistan.
According to the Center For Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, That total was greater than the next 15 countries combined which include China, United Kingdom, Russia, Japan, Saudi Arabia, France, Germany, India, Brazil, South Korea, Australia, Iran (23.9 billion), Italy, Israel, Canada.
In that group only Iran could be considered a definite adversary and we out spend them by over 600 billion dollars…And though China is often cited as the country’s next great military adversary, U.S. military spending currently doubles that of all of the countries in Asia combined.
and in total the United States consumes over 40 percent of total global military spending.
So my question is simply this, At what point does a country’s defensive spending become offensive?