Original quote by Pontius Navigator:
Turbine D, aren't we?
We certainly didn't vote for your leader.
Define Free World?
Free World today are democracies, although there are some family run and dictator lead countries thrown into the mix.
There are two ways to look at "Leader of the Free World":
A. The leading democratic superpower
B. An individual "leader" of the superpower
As Presidents and Prime Ministers come and go on a regular basis, I tend to look at it from the democratic superpower viewpoint.
So to be the leading democratic superpower, it takes significant resources, money, defensive and offensive weaponry and a large standing military force.
So, at the moment we, in the U.S., are going to spend 22% of our total Federal budget on Defense spending for fiscal year 2015. That translates into $840 Billion that would roughly equal £559 Billion. It does take a lot of money to keep those 10 aircraft carriers circulating, those 10,000 plus fixed wing aircraft flying, not counting the helicopters or drones along with the U.S. troops stationed in "hot-spots" around the world, including 28,500 in Korea alone. Isn't the total defense spending in the UK about £45.5 Billion for 2015?