2-Percent Discussion

N-TV did a good job of detailing the German-US military cost discussion, and it's worth a review.

Trump has said that Germany is not contributing to the 2-percent GDP 'goal' (on the books for over a decade).  Factually, this is true, and the Germans won't argue about it....saying that they will eventually reach this 2-percent goal by 2024. 

What they were doing in March of 2019?  Well....it added up to 1.24-percent of it's GDP.  This 'long' route to the 2-percent deal and years involved....was an obvious problem (even existing during the Obama period).

I often point out to this fact....how did any idiot sit there and make this a 'rule'?  Some rational folks should have stood up and just said a more realistic number....maybe 1-percent....maybe 1.3-percent. 

So what N-TV goes onto discussion is that Germany has contributed via another pot of money....roughly 100-million Euro a year (meaning 1-billion Euro for the past decade).  Two-thirds of this went to construction projects....which meant German companies were hired, with Germans having the jobs.....to build US facilities.  The other one-third?  Basically for expenses (oil, natural gas, electricity, water, sewage, German employees, damages to the facilities by storms or people, etc).

For the record, that billion doesn't count toward the 2-percent situation (even though logically, it should).

A couple of decades ago, I lived in a dorm on a military station here in Germany, which had this blast of lightning occur one night.  The structural damage?  I'm guessing this was one of those expense projects that come along, and the German company that came in to repair the structure...was paid out of this pot of money. 

Should that go toward the 2-percent?  I would suggest that. 

Will the next government (after this Merkel coalition) reach the 2-percent goal?  Based on BREXIT occurring, increased EU spending, the coal industry transformation, and various Corona costs coming in....I would seriously question whether 2-percent will ever occur.