It’s Costly to Be the World’s Sheriff  Worried that double digit
increases in military spending might soon come to an end, some
commentators have concocted a scheme for ensuring that the
nation’s defense budget never falls below a certain percentage
of gross domestic product.  Former Missouri Sen. James Talent
and others at the Heritage Foundation would establish “a rule
that the core defense budget should never sink below 4 percent
of the nation’s GDP (gross domestic product).” Gary Schmitt at
the American Enterprise Institute would see Heritage’s offer and
raise it to 5 percent of GDP. The editors of The Wall Street
Journal recently proposed spending between 5 and 6 percent.  The
overarching question for Americans should not be whether we
should spend more on defense, but rather why we spend so much. ”
The overarching question for Americans should not be whether we
should spend more on defense, but rather why we spend so much.
Fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while at the same time
trying to update fo