To those who'd say a bigger U.S. war budget would have stopped Putin...this sobering fact:

[TheKentuckian]

214. I didn't say it was, I said that the NATO treaty is not an economic suicide pact

You seem to be stating that is exactly what it is, that we are required to open up a blank check and sacrifice whatever it takes (and I think you are clear that what is being done is insufficient while refusing to state what the needs are) while pretending we aren't cutting food stamps, cut heating assistance, closing schools, and limited all kinds of desperately needed support right now, indicating some budget challenges at the very least.

If you had your way, you argue that you'd restructure and so would not increase the world's largest military budget (not even accounting for a large black budget or the spending glommed onto the Department of Energy budget) but that clearly would be not part of the immediate calculations and would at best have to be placed in the "fix it later" pile we have been building up meaning for at least the short term, you want a substantial increase. How much? How many divisions? How many tanks? What missile systems and how many?

Hell yes we are going broke on military spending based on receipts, it is crowding out everything else, all you have to do is look at revenue and outlays.

In this environment you want a blank check for Europe seriously because they don't want to? Further, you breathlessly describe this need that they clearly don't see and I don't see what part of this you don't get no NATO nation is under attack at all.