Forum Post: U.S. Military spending is insane, and must be cut.
Posted 12 years ago on Oct. 13, 2011, 5:43 p.m. EST by leftistperson
(95)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
In the year of 2010 the military expenditures of the US government reached an insane 700 billion dollars, excluding the expenditures with "Homeland security", a.k.a. CIA and NSA domestic spying on US citizens. If you add that, it could reach almost 1 trillion dollars.
While the USA spent 700 billion dollars with its military, China, the second in the world ranking, spent just 114 billions dollars. Russia spent 52 billion dollars.
Check the data here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures
China + Russia + France spent together less than 230 billion dollars.
It means that, if the USA cut its military expenditures to 300 billion dollars a year, it would still spend a lot more than China, Russia and France together. No risk of losing the status of world's number one superpower.
Cuting from 700 billion to 300 billion would mean an economy of 400 billion dollars per year. 4 trillion dollars in ten years. That's a lot of money.
Definitely, cut it and let's have a department of defense not offense. Big waste of money that could be spent on Americans in America. Besides who wants to be led to war by a bunch of chickens who ducked out when our country needed them to fight. Back to the days of yore when your leaders led the charge on the battlefield. If congress votes to start a war, let the ones who voted yes be sent to the hot zones on the battlefield. Let's see how many wars those chickens start then!
"a department of defense not offense", good point... today we have a department of offensive war and aggression.
and to paraphrase Ron Paul, the first step could be simply to close 1000 bases worldwide and bring those soldiers home, base them on American soil so at least they'd be spending their money here. That would have positive impact without even cutting the budget!
But it's necessary to cut the military budget to reduce the deficit...
agreed
hello, im katie and im was assigned to do a persuasive speech about military spending, i was wondering if you could give further information and some facts, since you know and are more confident with the topic, btw im against
With cronies at the Federal (not) Reserve (none) at ready to create the money, war spending will proceed at a frenetic pace. ENDTHEFED.com
Some might argue the best defense is a strong offense. Hard to prove them wrong since no one has tried to bring a full scale war to US soil recently. I wonder if some would say we didn’t spend enough if we were occupied by china. I prefer to let the military tell me what they need and give it to them.
The real problem is not how much money they get; it is how much they lose if they don't spend it all. If I am budgeted to spend 1billion this year and only spend 500 million, then my budget is cut the next year. Well what if next year I need the full 1 billion? Too bad I guess. The way to fix it is to not punish them for not spending their whole budget for the year.
No one has tried to carry a full scale war to Canadian soil in the last 100 years.
No one has tried to carry a full scale war to Brazilian soil in the last 100 years.
No one has tried to carry a full scale war to Australian soil in the last 100 years.
All of those countries spend less than 10% of the US military expenditures.
They are our allies. No one will pick on little brother if big brother is standing next to him.
Who said those countries need, or want, a "big brother"?
Well that is off topic and not my original point. Since your retort is off topic I must conclude you agree with my point. So thank you.
Now on to your question: "Who said those countries need, or want, a "big brother"?" They did By signing a peace treaty and alliance pact with us.
Just for the record: I was using "Big brother" in a family sense. Not the surveillance/ government spying on you sense.
No, I don't agree with your paranoia that everyone is just waiting an opportunity to attack the USA.
Russia spends less than 10% of what the USA spends per year with the military, and nobody tried to invade Russia in the past 20 years. Because Russia has nukes. And so the USA has.
That $700 billion provides a ton of good jobs, both military and civilian, and it protects us at the same time.
Overprotect, you mean... You only forgot that it also creates a huge deficit that some people will blame on Medicare.
Well since you are off topic yet again, this will be my last reply to you.
Yes they spend less money, but they have less money. Here are the numbers based in percent of the GDP. Here is where the real math is.
USA: "For FY 2010, Department of Defense spending amounts to 4.7% of GDP" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States EDIT: "We have a VA to factor in there and they really dont."
Russia: (no real data after 2006) "By 2006 Russia spent about 2.7 percent of its GDP on defense" http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/mo-budget.htm
Hardly a tenth as you claim.
good day.
So?
They spend 50 billion per year, and nobody attacks them.
Why the USA needs to spend 700 billion to not get attacked?
Obama is ordering troops to Uganda. He is starting another war. What threat is Uganda to us?
This is a real demand.
Bring the troops home!
Stop wasting money with very expensive "toys" like the drones used in Pakistan! The MQ-1 Predator drone costs $20 million dollars per unit!
An economy of 4 trillion dollars in ten years... It means that by 2021 the federal debt could be of just 16 trillion, instead of 20 trillion, for example...
This is a very rational solution. Excessive military spending is a WASTE of money.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Egyptian_revolution
So? Last time I checked, Egypt was 5 thousand miles away from the USA. Are you worried about the security of the USA, or about the security of Israel?
Ever been to a depot and seen all the wrecked equipment. It goes for miles. Good luck taking on the military machine.
Military spending accounts for one heck of a lot of jobs. I should know. Waste, mismanagement, and fraud. Woo Boy! Whistleblower laws do not protect the whisltelblowers. Crooked politicians don't want to be exposed. I agree spending needs to be toned down and I want to see paramilitary religious terrorist regimes taken down but that will have to have support of the people of their geo-demographics. War sucks but the oppressed have to move. I would like to see more of the money flow accross the board while eliminating waste fraud and corruption.Religion....God is God quit fighting about whos GOD is right.In another note the terrorist don't care anything for God only their own political and greedy gains. You have a good point thanks.
Hear Hear!
The United States is the world's sole superpower. We do not have any choice but to assume responsibility. The safety and security of our own nation, and the entire world depend on maintaining a status quo in which the United States has military superiority.
I regret to say that not only is your post misguided, but we probably aren't spending enough. The air force is aging, aging, aging. We've cut back orders for F22s and F35s and there is no planned successor to the F22 that we know of. The only thing that ISN'T messed up is the carrier fleet.
This is paranoia. The world is a safer place without so much US intervention in foreign nations. Close 80% of the foreign bases, just keep a few in Japan and South Korea, because of "Crazy Kim", and everything is gonna be alright.