Bonoman,
Your post in response to high bias came right before my response did, so I had not seen your post until I finished writing and posting mine.
The fact that US consumers buy nearly 2 Trillion dollars worth of goods is not something that can be swept under the rug. Allowing US consumers to buy all these foreign goods is a huge benefit to the global economy, and yes the USA does benefit as well.
The USA spends nearly 400 Billion dollars every year on essentially international security! Few countries come close to this level of spending even as a percentage of GDP. International Security is extremely important as it helps prevent anarchy and war and can protect regions and countries from the actions and moves of other countries. Without the international security and stability that the USA provides many regions of the world, discussions of and or actions to develop the third world would not be possible, because of the instability and war that would exist in several other countries and regions of the world.
There is no attempt to hide behind spending on the military. The attempt to narrowly define international aid as simply development aid is incorrect and un-objective. Military spending, free trade, and development aid are all important parts of international aid. I've tried to show you and others here the lack of military support that the USA recieves from countries like Canada. Canada needs to more than double its defense budget, perhaps triple it. The USA spends nearly 4% of its GDP on defense while a country like Canada spends only .9%. When it came to military action in Kosovo to prevent the slaughter of muslims by the Serb military, over 90% of the combat missions flown, were flown by the US military. If force is needed to disarm Iraq and bring it into compliance with 16 different UN resolutions passed under chapter 7 rules, the vast majority of the forces involved in combat will be US forces.
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