>Better late than never eh.
>
>... Perhaps the US should stop carrying the lion's share of the expenses for defense costs of the members of NATO and require more of the member countries to pay their fair share for their own defense? I think that this would be a peachy idea since we are almost 20 trillion dollars in debt and cannot afford to carry the rest of the world on our backs. However, I am sure that the rest of the mooches of the world would have a problem with that.....

One of the points I agree more with prez elect than with you ;-))
I think the other NATO members should pay more for their own military- at least for a slice somewhere between 15 and 25% of current US budget. Also seen from here the defense spending of the US could still be lowered additionally somewhere between 25 and 35% without risking supremacy.

Paying the US for defense efforts (which is something some of Donalds utterings COULD be interpreted to point to - not saying that they are meant that way) could evolve into something too close to the protection money frowned upon by restaurant owners.