Defencd

On NPR today they interviewed a woman who talked about the maternity leave in Sweden. The parents receive 480 days paid leave. My first question was is the birth rate increasing but in fact it is decreasing. This was just one more of those comparisons that people often make between Europe and the US. What was not mentioned was that Sweden spends 1.3% of their GDP on defense while the US spends three times that much at 3.9%. This is typical of many European countries especially those in NATO who depend on the US to defend them against any invaders. The US has over 1,000 facilities overseas staffed by 170,000 people at a cost of $173 billion dollars per year. Is it time for these countries to start taking on more responsibility for their own defense. There are 31 countries in NATO and the US pays 22% of the budget.