# Military Dopers: Do soldiers/marines/airmen like Obama's military policy?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-dopers-do-soldiers-marines-airmen-like-obamas-military-policy/489225>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [March 12, 2009, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-dopers-do-soldiers-marines-airmen-like-obamas-military-policy/489225 "2009-03-12T17:35:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![sweeteviljesus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@sweeteviljesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweeteviljesus)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-dopers-do-soldiers-marines-airmen-like-obamas-military-policy/489225/61 "2009-03-18T16:47:38Z")

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> [@Mosier](#):
>
> How can you justify making such an observation, knowing that America spends a higher percentage of its GDP on the military than almost any other nation, and the USA spends more than 50% entire world military budget?

[The master speaks.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2512/1-with-a-bullet-why-is-the-u-s-military-budget-so-high)

> [@](#):
>
> Military expenditures as a percentage of gross national product. The U.S. spends a lot on its military but has a lot to spend. Some other countries don’t have much but spend it on the military anyway. World leader: Eritrea, which spends 27.4 percent of its $757 million GNP (world rank: 155) on the armed services, most of it presumably to fight its archenemy, Ethiopia. The balance of the top ten, with percentages ranging between 21.2 and 8.8: Angola, North Korea, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Congo, Qatar, Jordan, Ethiopia, and Israel. U.S. rank: 52nd, at 3 percent.

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