If we pulled out of Europe, can the EU still afford its social services?

Can Countries like Germany still be able to afford it social services if we pull out of Europe and have them spend money on their own security?

 

who do you mean by we?

 

They can't even afford their social programs now, so no, if the US pulled out and stopped subsidizing their military spending, they could not afford their social services without adding several hours to their work week and a couple of years to their working careers.

 

I think you Americans are woefully miss informed, Germany is among the most rich and stable of the European countries.

I’m not even going to go in to the comment about USA pulling out armed forces… because that was just ridiculous

 

Your question is the wrong way around. You should be asking if America can still afford to be running such a large military spend? The answer is clearly no.

 

That is a very fair point.

 

A thought experiment:

A presidential candidate announces that all US troops in Germany will be brought home, and the size of the military budget reduced to reflect the savings. Who will scream the loudest - Germans, Democrats, Republicans or Tea Partyists?

It certainly won't be Germans...

 

Actually, the people that will scream the loudest will be the military. The military has become a monster that feeds on its own insecurity. It doesn't care about spending. It doesn't care about value. It only cares about getting bigger.

 

It includes the corporations that lobby for the military contracts, a big one in this war is haliburton... http://www.iwatchnews.org/2011/08/30/5990/windfalls-war-kbr-governments-concierge

 

I think the German party would be pretty loud