How has America benefited from being Europe's big brother

This was a response to a dutchman who lamented Europe cannot "rely" on the US anymore.

The real question is - why was US obligated to be big brother in the first case? US defense spending has stayed above 3.5% with bases in all these countries while places like Germany have seen defense spending plummet to 1.3%... all because of Nazi guilt from a 100 years ago. European countries also had tariffs on American goods which finally resulted in reciprocal tariffs in 2025.

It was only a matter of time before America asked European countries to pull their weight. This isn't an attack on NATO, but a means of solidifying it.

Since 1990, German defense spending has plummeted to less than 1.5% of GDP. Only recently did it top $50 billion a year, just over 5% of what the US spends. European nations in general have enjoyed very low defense spending and absurdly high welfare spending under the protection of big brother USA. So when you say ally, don't you mean sugar daddy? What exactly has the US gotten out of this agreement?



It is long past time for European countries to up defense spending, take on some autonomy, and stop promoting themselves as welfare states for immigrants around the world whose own home countries don't want them.