I don’t know what they want from me
It’s like the mo’ money we come across
The mo’ problems we see
–Notorious BIG
The budget request for the Department of Defense for FY 2007 is 439.3 billion dollars. However the Pentagon will soon request an additional 65.3 billion in “additional, critical” expenses.
It includes:
- 17.2 billion for weapons systems “critical” for use in Iraq and Afghanistan
- 1.2 billion to develop technologies to defeat IEDs (I wrote an article on the relative inutility of this approach)
- 1 billion to replenish stocks of ammunition
- 9.6 billion for “personnel” expenses in Iraq, including 245 million for “civilian logistics support”
So if this additional spending package is approved it will mean the American defense budget next year is 493 billion plus 65 billion for a total of 558 billion dollars. That’s just staggering.
In the entire world, the next highest level of military spending is from China, which officially is spending 30 billion and American military estimates double that to 60 billion. Even at the highest supposed level, America is spending 9 and a half times more on its military than China. And they’re number two.
In 1999, the U.S. was spending “only” 281 billion on the military, so that’s an increase of 277 billion, nearly doubling the entire budget in just six years. Holy cow.
After China, the next highest spenders on the military are Russia, France, Japan, Germany and Britain. The combined budgets of the countries 2-10 on the list are still less than the combined total of the United States. In fact, in 2004 the entire world but the United States spent 500 billion dollars. This isn’t new as the U.S. regularly accounts for between 30-45% of the entire world’s military expenditures.
The statistics come from here and here and from other sources.
I personally think this is an outrageous amount but even for someone who sees a need for such an advanced level of military spending, I question where is the “success” to justify all of this? There is no more threat of a Soviet superpower and terrorism is on the rise worldwide.
Not to mention thinking about how far 50 billion would go in funding all the other needs of the United States. Take a look at the proposed 2007 budget and click on any of the budget outlays besides the Pentagon’s. For example Health and Human Services’ budget, which accounts for Medicare amongst other things, is just 1.5 billion. Imagine the health care that could be provided for every citizen in the country with an additional 50 billion dollars.
Or maybe you’re worried about Homeland Security. Their 2007 budget request is just 35.6 billion. Imagine what they could do with another 50 billion. And so on and so forth. It’s just staggering to the mind how much my country spends on its military relative to what it spends on everything else, including Homeland Security. Where are our priorities?
And if that wasn’t troubling enough, I remind you once again that Donald Rumsfeld admitted that the Pentagon cannot account for 1.2 trillion dollars in past expenditures.
Peace
