Well, a bit hyperbolic, but you are looking at the finance and overlooking the cash flows. While much of US militarism is funded from abroad (given the size of the deficit as a percentage of GDP, the size of the deficit net government investment service as a percentage of government consumption spending must be really hefty) ...

... much of it is spent abroad. More than 700 acknowledged overseas bases and likely more than 1000 total does not come without a current account outflow. Add in an expensive occupation of a country in the middle of a civil war, and the current account price tag of US militarism must be very high indeed.

Certainly in the aggregate, China is accumulating US reserves to help finance US imports of Chinese products, or products with substantial Chinese value added. Which was the same position as the US post-WWII, except spending on reconstruction and industrial development does far more to help meet obligations being accumulated than spending on foreign entanglements.


I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.