There’s this scene in the movie Sabrina where the workaholic main character (Harrison Ford) is arguing with his carefree, playboy brother (Greg Kinnear), insisting he needs to take life more seriously. “You're talking about my life!” Greg Kinnear complains. 

“I pay for your life,” Harrison Ford responds. “My life makes your life possible.”

“I resent that,” Greg responds.

“So do I,” Harrison agrees.

This scene basically sums up America’s relationship with Western Europe. They love to roll their eyes at us for our patriotism, cluck their tongues at us whenever we elect a Republican, and tell us to stay out of their affairs.

Except, of course, when we pay for those affairs – which we do all the time.

The issue where this has gotten the most attention lately is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), where we pay 16 percent of the total budget, and the rest of our allies just coast (except for Poland and Greece, countries much closer to danger than, say, Belgium or the Netherlands). President Trump has shown that he will no longer tolerate unequal burden-sharing problems with countries that exploit our generosity.

But an issue that’s less sexy but probably more serious is........

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