Hahahahaha, the German economy is so strong with record low unemployment rates (lowest since 1996 or something) that they honestly don't give a shit. They only want the euro to be as low as possible. That's all.
no country in europe can afford its social programs as is. so the glaringly obvious answer to this question is no. all of western civilization is insolvent. until the music stops we are all fine, but when the music stops we are all f'd.
Not true, Switzerland has paid down like 10% of its debt during the financial crisis. Our debt is below 200 billion. I'm pretty positive we can afford pretty much anything except for a breakdown of Germany's economy.
Some good points made above ! Nothing wrong with European companies - it's just that the politicians have made such a mess of things. When a similiarly poor situation happened in Roman days the whole army was lined up and every tenth man was hacked to death by his comrades ! End of problem. Even the Royal Navy hung it's own Admiral after a poor performance years ago. These days they retire on fat pensions and blame others !!
I think they can. Even with their current social services most countries in Europe have fine militaries. I don't see why you think that spending on their military would need to go up instantly. The US troops in Europe provide nothing to European security. The Cold War is over and the Soviets aren't a threat anymore. From whom are they protecting Western Europe...? US Congress needs to face facts... The US troops in Europe are useless.
If someone was to ask the average US politician , they wouldn't know if there are any US troops still in Europe ! Bush didn't even know where Afghanistan was on the map. They haven't picked a knowledgeable person yet for President. And it seems it is now between (Walter) Mitt(y) Romney and the Newt - gawd help us all !!!
Here is a map of US troops in Europe. Someone ought to mention it to the House that the cold war is over
For how long? The surplus of Germany exactly equals the deficit of the GIPS because those were the customers to their default. Now Germany is pretending everything is fine but financial chaos is around the corner unless they get the GIPS to borrow money from them at high rates IMF rejects. Take a good look: Source: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/07/wishful-thinking-and-the-road-to-eurogeddon/ Where do you think German surplus will come from in the future? From nowhere.
The war is not over. The war continues and freedom is in great danger from German and Russian imperialism and fascism. US troops prevent Germany from rising again to cause another holocaust and Russia from gaining ground.
This is all somewhat true... Obama is educated but he hasn't seen the need to pull the troops out... Were you to look at a country like France you would notice that in some cases their military hardware is even more expensive than that of the US. The Leclerc tank costs about 17 million Euros almost 3 times as much as an US Abrahms... And happens to be very capable and high tech... I'd say that it is currently the best tank money can buy out there. Mind you experts say the German Leopard 2 is the best but whatever... Again about France, the Dessault Rafale fighter costs about $82 million USD... And is a really good airplane... I'm not going to get into their navy and all that I think people get the point... AND that's just France... Other countries have their own hardware... Overall, the Europeans spend plenty on defense and have some really good and advanced weapon systems.