It might not look like it now, but Donald Trump has won again. He and US military officials have long demanded that Britain and Europe take on a greater portion of NATO funding. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has now vowed to increase defense spending from 2.3 to 2.5 percent of GDP by 2027—the highest that figure has been since the end of the Cold War—and to 3 percent after 2029.
It might be an attempt to fill the hole left by Trump if he carries out his stated intention of scaling back US military support for Ukraine. It might be a compromise to dissuade Trump from following through. Either way, Trump has succeeded in making Britain take on a bigger share of the defense burden, reinforcing the use of Britain as a US proxy in Europe. This form of outsourcing saves Washington money and allows it to be spent in a way that produces wealth, two things Trump cares a great deal about.
“It has become too hard to make a profit in the old way.”
Trump complains that the United States is “spending a lot of money” on the military that we could be spending on “other things that are actually, hopefully, much more productive.” In this respect, he seems to understand what even many of today’s most strident socialists do not, which is that military spending is unproductive. It is not a source of new value or wealth creation, but a way for wealth to be seized by the state and from the taxpayer and then pulverized by subsidizing private weapons manufacturers. Why? Because it has become too hard to make a profit in the old way: by expanding commodity production—which is where wealth is actually created—and selling goods and services to the common consumer.