It doesn’t even need to be combat troops, for each combat troop there are about 3-4 handling everything else, like supplies, maintenance, instructors etc. We could send troops to help with those personnel demanding tasks, without being in actual combat.
I absolutely agree that Europe needs to wake up, and take the consequence of Russia starting an unprovoked war against a European democracy.
Give Ukraine EVERYTHING they need ASAP, and help with back-end personnel.
Europe has a 10 times bigger economy than Russia, but Russia still manage to outspend Europe on military. Europe only needs to spend about 3-3.5% to catch up, and we are not (politically) able to do even that?
Europe has a 10 times bigger economy than Russia, but Russia still manage to outspend Europe on military.
In GDP terms the EU has a 10 times larger economy, but in GDP adjusted for purchasing power it is only 4 times larger. In absolute terms EU military spending is higher then that of Russia, but it is about the same, when adjusting for purchasing power.
5,816,000 GDP (millions of current international dollar) 2023
So EU is almost exactly 4.5 times bigger on PPP.
but it is about the same, when adjusting for purchasing power.
OK fair enough, but the point is that it needs to be at least the same for Ukraine. But maybe I wasn’t clear on that part.
One of the reasons PPP is so much better per dollar in Russia, is that energy is cheap. But the entire energy sector is hard pressed currently, and is running at huge deficits.
In fact the Russian economy is so hard pressed from sop many sides now, like worker shortage, inflation, state deficits, insane interest rates, that makes investments near impossible.
So Russia is cooking the books in almost every way possible. So we can’t trust new numbers and deficits, they claim to have growth, but evidence shows the opposite.
Another thing is PPP numbers don’t work for imports, so the degree they rely on China, India, North Korea and Iran, the better PPP numbers aren’t much help. In those cases it’s the nominal number that counts.
Europe only needs to spend about 3-3.5% to catch up, and we are not (politically) able to do even that?
Because usually extra spending comes from the healthcare and pensions of the population who are already having problems after the inflation what doesn´t get much votes and probably pushes more people to the far right who rather invite Putin in.
Actual war funding generally comes from taxing the rich too. In USA during WW2 the rich had to pay 90% taxes!!!
All of Europe has been giving the rich lower taxes for decades, raise the taxes on the rich could easily cover most, also without going to extremes. We only need about 1% extra tax to cover the increased military expenditure.
To claim we can’t afford that without sacrificing healthcare and services is based on propaganda by the 1%.
It doesn’t even need to be combat troops, for each combat troop there are about 3-4 handling everything else, like supplies, maintenance, instructors etc. We could send troops to help with those personnel demanding tasks, without being in actual combat.
I absolutely agree that Europe needs to wake up, and take the consequence of Russia starting an unprovoked war against a European democracy.
Give Ukraine EVERYTHING they need ASAP, and help with back-end personnel.
Europe has a 10 times bigger economy than Russia, but Russia still manage to outspend Europe on military. Europe only needs to spend about 3-3.5% to catch up, and we are not (politically) able to do even that?
In GDP terms the EU has a 10 times larger economy, but in GDP adjusted for purchasing power it is only 4 times larger. In absolute terms EU military spending is higher then that of Russia, but it is about the same, when adjusting for purchasing power.
I had to check that out, because I found that very hard to believe.
But it appears you are right:
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.PP.CD?locations=EU
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)
So EU is almost exactly 4.5 times bigger on PPP.
OK fair enough, but the point is that it needs to be at least the same for Ukraine. But maybe I wasn’t clear on that part.
One of the reasons PPP is so much better per dollar in Russia, is that energy is cheap. But the entire energy sector is hard pressed currently, and is running at huge deficits.
In fact the Russian economy is so hard pressed from sop many sides now, like worker shortage, inflation, state deficits, insane interest rates, that makes investments near impossible.
So Russia is cooking the books in almost every way possible. So we can’t trust new numbers and deficits, they claim to have growth, but evidence shows the opposite.
Another thing is PPP numbers don’t work for imports, so the degree they rely on China, India, North Korea and Iran, the better PPP numbers aren’t much help. In those cases it’s the nominal number that counts.
Still it’s a valid point. 👍 😀
Because usually extra spending comes from the healthcare and pensions of the population who are already having problems after the inflation what doesn´t get much votes and probably pushes more people to the far right who rather invite Putin in.
Actual war funding generally comes from taxing the rich too. In USA during WW2 the rich had to pay 90% taxes!!!
All of Europe has been giving the rich lower taxes for decades, raise the taxes on the rich could easily cover most, also without going to extremes. We only need about 1% extra tax to cover the increased military expenditure.
To claim we can’t afford that without sacrificing healthcare and services is based on propaganda by the 1%.
Yes, a lot of modern politics is based on it unfortunately