I Didn't Know That

So I must sheepishly admit that all along I've bought into the Military Industrial Complex bogeyman, believing that the U.S. is basically supporting the defense of its allies because they won't do it themselves and we're such pushovers or good guys or whatever that we just pay the bills and keep on keeping on and besides that it's good for business. Really good for business, those fuckers.
Then along comes the data, out of the blue, that sort of bursts that bubble. This is all in the context of Krugman countering a current conservative wave of argument against evidence of the economic success of more socialistic countries in Europe.

Yes, we spend more on defense than the major European countries. But it’s on the order of 1 or 2 percentage points of GDP. That’s not nearly enough to explain why they can afford such big welfare states.

Of course, Krugman's chart may not include all the equipment they buy from us and all the money we loan them to do that. He's as capable of being disingenuous as any human being, but I think he's cute. A little wimpy, but cute. But not as cute as Rahm Emanuel.

UPDATE: One of Krugman's commenters checked it out, and no, he's not being disingenuous, it is all defense expenditures, not just NATO. The countries listed are just NATO members, that's all.
So, bullshit, you conservative idiots. You could at least learn to Google.