Canada Pledges To Raise Defence To 5% Of GDP - $150B Annually

[Economy 52,842]

18 hours ago, Bronco said:

It's deliberate. 

Neo-liberal/post-neo liberal consensus states in the West have trapped themselves in a system where the only thing the market lets them borrow money for without shitting the bed is defence spending. 

So when times get tough, where as historically states would kick of a slew of "great works" and fund it via borrowing as a way of getting people out of unemployment and into the labour market - now the only avenue they have is to pull people into the military. 

The western political class have already picked their solution to the housing crisis/cost of living crisis etc which face the younger generations. It's bootcamp. 
I'd put money on governments like Canada/UK/France etc announcing a national service model before the decade is out. Because it's the only path out in the low growth economies we're seeing which lets them invest in housing for young people and training for young people with minimal market blowback. 

Id much rather if ur gonna over spend for growth at least do it in something productive like infrastructure which also has ripple economic effects and lasting positive impacts besides just immediate stimulus that disapears the moment you turn off the tap. 

 

That said i get the world is on edge and security matters and i guess we gotta consider that too not just whether it makes economic sense or not. The US is no longer willing to protect Canada as much (at least under Trump). And Russia is literally right next door

 

Canadas military is not weak or small by international standards but it cant hold up much against the obvious miltary giants (US, Russia, China, Germany, UK, France, Japan) though only a couple on that list are actual adversairies