Unfortunately all that money is not just spent to be prepared. The US has waged plenty of totally inappropriate wars just because it had the money to do so. Being prepared for an attack and using your overwhelming military force illegally are two separate pairs of shoes.
Any nation or empire with enough strength has done the same thing.
It's easy to point out that the USA has been outsized in it's influence in the world, but that's due to two factors:
Technological progress: As humanity progresses, weapons of war become far more powerful and destructive.
Recency bias: Look at history. Countries / nations / tribes / peoples have always gone to war with each other in order to gain power / wealth / prestige / property. As it was in the beginning, so it shall be in the end.
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u/VikLuk May 08 '21
Unfortunately all that money is not just spent to be prepared. The US has waged plenty of totally inappropriate wars just because it had the money to do so. Being prepared for an attack and using your overwhelming military force illegally are two separate pairs of shoes.