Since the end of the draft, military enlistment serves as a rural youth jobs program, and military spending as corporate welfare and a major source of post-grad research grants. However, besides DARPA and some technical training with civilian applications, excesses spent here are bad economic investments. Unlike roads or education, military expenditures generally don't lead to future revenue, only more liabilities.

There's a word for nations who spend lavishly on their military but can't afford basic investments in human resources and infrastructure: Third World. If more Americans had passports, they might realize that there are lots of places that prioritize social goods that function pretty well.

I don't feel that the absurdly high % of GDP devoted to U.S. military expenditure after the Cold War made us any safer. Its a lobby always seeking new adversaries and countries for interventionists to meddle in, one which creates enemies (cf post-2001 Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria), lingering resentments, and state collapses permitting genocide, no matter how well intentioned. We're about to get into a shooting war because of our ties with Saudi Arabia/GCC and their proxies in Syria, a country we're intervening in against international law.

[that ran on, must have needed to vent]