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The US$564 billion war for profit

J Jan55Old Faithful
The US$564 billion war for profit:

This year's proposed US spending on the Iraq war is larger than the military budgets of China and Russia combined. The combined spending requests would push the total for Iraq to US$564 billion, according to the non-partisan Congressional Research Service
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2007/708/36771
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Phoenix RisingPhoenix RisingPost Master
U.S Military spending was 1.2 trillion in 1985. How about comparing spending on a percentage of GDP. Hasn't our military spending always been in in huge multiples of other countries? Isn't our budget a little bit higher?

We have defiantly been #1 on military spending for decades but if you look at it as a percentage of GDP we are about #45 on the list well behind Switzerland, Denmark, and Finland.

This is just more playing with numbers without giving an actual perspective.
KindredKindredOld Faithful
Now... you are NOT turning around what I am saying THIS time like you did on another post and cut and ran....

I did not say one word about NOT being proud of our Military, in fact, my entire family is/was HEAVILY involved with the military, but I think SOOOOOOOO much of them that I want them HOME, in the arms of their LOVED ONES instead of where they are, pawns of our gov't....

And thank God it is NOT up to you, or else ALL our numbers would be doubled, tripled even and we would have many many many more Soldiers die over in a country we have NO more business in than we did in Vietnam.
U USA1Everybody Knows My Name
quote:
Originally posted by Phoenix Rising:
No that isn't what I'm saying thats a fundamental belief of the blame America first club. I'm proud of our military and if it were up to me they would have their numbers doubled and a budget more in line with cold war era days.


Phoenix i agree with you 100%.

What do we spend? 10% of our GDP?

Where China,Russia,ect spend 40-50%
J Jan55Old Faithful
quote:
Originally posted by USA1:
quote:
Originally posted by Phoenix Rising:
No that isn't what I'm saying thats a fundamental belief of the blame America first club. I'm proud of our military and if it were up to me they would have their numbers doubled and a budget more in line with cold war era days.


Phoenix i agree with you 100%.

What do we spend? 10% of our GDP?

Where China,Russia,ect spend 40-50%



Can you back this up with facts?
J Jan55Old Faithful
quote:
Originally posted by Phoenix Rising:
U.S Military spending was 1.2 trillion in 1985. How about comparing spending on a percentage of GDP. Hasn't our military spending always been in in huge multiples of other countries? Isn't our budget a little bit higher?

We have defiantly been #1 on military spending for decades but if you look at it as a percentage of GDP we are about #45 on the list well behind Switzerland, Denmark, and Finland.

This is just more playing with numbers without giving an actual perspective.



Nash,can you back this up and give us some facts?
Phoenix RisingPhoenix RisingPost Master
quote:
Originally posted by pba:
quote:
Originally posted by USA1:
quote:
Originally posted by Phoenix Rising:
No that isn't what I'm saying thats a fundamental belief of the blame America first club. I'm proud of our military and if it were up to me they would have their numbers doubled and a budget more in line with cold war era days.


Phoenix i agree with you 100%.

What do we spend? 10% of our GDP?

Where China,Russia,ect spend 40-50%



Can you back this up with facts?


The United States spends 3.2% of its GDP on military spending. We are in the mid to high 40s on the of Countries in terms of how much we spend on our military as a percentage of GDP. The highest is North Korea with almost 40%. The Soviet Union (11.7%) and China (4.5%) are well down the list as well.
KindredKindredOld Faithful
quote:
Originally posted by Phoenix Rising:
quote:
but when YOU ASK for proof, everyone goes poof!!! LOL..

You KNOW you ain't gonna get it, it doesn't exist... it OPINION, not FACT.[/color][/b]


Look it up Kindred. You can find a number of sources. If you find one that contradicts what I've found I welcome you to post it.


PBA asked you to provide the proof/links... and you ignored that, then when I said something about it you made a smart-aleck remark.... but, oh well...

Like PBA said above... PROVIDE THE PROOF... he always does!!!
Phoenix RisingPhoenix RisingPost Master
Graph 1: US military spending as a percentage of GDP, 1940--2003 (little old sorry)

From:
http://www.truthandpolitics.org/military-relative-size.php



From:
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/mil_exp_per_of_gdp-mi...tures-percent-of-gdp
(part of the list)

1 Rwanda: 13.3 %
#2 Oman: 11.4 %
#3 Jordan: 10.6 %
#4 Qatar: 10 %
#5 Saudi Arabia: 10 %
#6 Israel: 9 %
#7 Eritrea: 7.8 %
#8 Iraq: 7.5 %
#9 Yemen: 7 %
#10 Mauritania: 6.7 %
#11 Angola: 6.6 %
#12 Macedonia, Republic of: 6 %
#13 Syria: 5.9 %
#14 Burundi: 5.9 %
#15 Kuwait: 5.9 %
#16 Brunei: 5.8 %
#17 Maldives: 5.5 %
#18 Turkey: 5.3 %
#19 Morocco: 5 %
#20 Swaziland: 4.9 %
#21 Bahrain: 4.9 %
#22 Singapore: 4.9 %
#23 Chad: 4.6 %
#24 Bosnia and Herzegovina: 4.5 %
#25 Pakistan: 4.5 %
#26 Congo, Republic of the: 4.3 %
#27 Greece: 4.3 %
#28 China: 4.3 %
#29 Djibouti: 4.1 %
#30 United States: 4.06 %
#31 Côte d'Ivoire: 4 %
#32 Tajikistan: 3.9 %
#33 Libya: 3.9 %
#34 Namibia: 3.9 %
#35 Ethiopia: 3.9 %
#36 Cuba: 3.8 %
#37 Cyprus: 3.8 %
#38 Zimbabwe: 3.7 %
#39 Algeria: 3.6 %
#40 Solomon Islands: 3.5 %
#41 Botswana: 3.5 %
#42 Armenia: 3.5 %
#43 Turkmenistan: 3.4 %
#44 Egypt: 3.4 %
#45 Colombia: 3.4 %
#46 Gabon: 3.4 %
#47 Iran: 3.3 %
#48 Sri Lanka: 3.3 %
#49 United Arab Emirates: 3.1 %
#50 Lebanon: 3.1 %


From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_in_the_United_States
"As percentage of its GDP, the United states spends 3.7% on military. This is higher than France's 2.6%, and lower than Saudi Arabia's 10%.[6] This is historically low for the United States since it peaked in 1944 at 37.8% of GDP. Even during the peak of the Vietnam War the percentage reached a high of 9.4% in 1968."


From:
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-percent-of-gdp-do-countries-spend-on-military.htm

North Korea 33.9 North Korea percent of GDP spent on military
Mali 15.0 Mali percent of GDP spent on military
Saudi Arabia 13.0 Saudi Arabia percent of GDP spent on military
Ethiopia 12.6 Ethiopia percent of GDP spent on military
Oman 12.2 Oman percent of GDP spent on military
Eritrea 12.0 Eritrea percent of GDP spent on military
Qatar 10.0 Qatar percent of GDP spent on military
Israel 8.8 Israel percent of GDP spent on military
Jordan 8.6 Jordan percent of GDP spent on military
Maldives 8.6 Maldives percent of GDP spent on military
Afghanistan 7.7 Afghanistan percent of GDP spent on military
Bahrain 6.7 Bahrain percent of GDP spent on military
Armenia 6.5 Armenia percent of GDP spent on military
Macedonia 6.0 Macedonia percent of GDP spent on military
Syria 5.9 Syria percent of GDP spent on military
Kuwait 5.5 Kuwait percent of GDP spent on military
Angola 5.4 Angola percent of GDP spent on military
Burundi 5.3 Burundi percent of GDP spent on military
New Caledonia 5.3 New Caledonia percent of GDP spent on military
Yemen 5.2 Yemen percent of GDP spent on military
Brunei 5.0 Brunei percent of GDP spent on military
Greece 4.9 Greece percent of GDP spent on military
Singapore 4.9 Singapore percent of GDP spent on military
Lebanon 4.8 Lebanon percent of GDP spent on military
Swaziland 4.8

I can't account for the differenced in the numbers and why some countries are excluded/included in each one but I think its probably different years and different CIA guesses in some cases.

The highest I saw the U.S. was #30 (above). The lowest I saw was #47 sited in several places.

That good?
Last edited by Phoenix Rising
P Pogo142Post Master
Just because our economy is growing doesn't mean our military spending has to go up. Talk about palying with numbers.

Especially when social spending is in such need.
The money is wasted because much of it really goes to military contractors, their CEO's and stockholders for expensive high priced weapons, much of which we are overcharges for and are not needed. It's a teribble rip-off.

The Defense Industry then gives hug contributions to politicans who support military build build ups and wars to justify the weapons.

The wars are for power and profits and US "Pax Americana." The reckless spending and corruption is catching up to us as it did to to undermine all great empires.
P Pogo142Post Master
Military spending on rise

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/2005...EWS06/506080460/1012


June 8, 2005

Military spending on rise
Global outlays top $1 trillion, highest since Cold War peak; U.S. accounts for nearly half.
[]
Associated Press

STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Global military spending in 2004 broke the $1 trillion barrier for the first time since the Cold War, boosted by the U.S. war against terror and the growing defense budgets of India and China, a European think tank said Tuesday.
Led by the United States, which accounted for almost half of all military expenditures, the world spent $1.035 trillion on defense, equal to 2.6 percent of global gross domestic product, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said.

Besides its regular defense budget, the United States has allocated $238 billion since 2003 to fight terrorism, according to the report. "These appropriations are now assuming extraordinary proportions," said SIPRI researcher Elisabeth Skons, who co-authored the organization's annual report.

Adjusted for inflation, the figure for global military spending in 2004 is only 6 percent lower than its Cold War peak in 1987-1988, Skons said.

Total military expenditures grew 6 percent in 2004 over the previous year, in line with an average annual increase since 2002, the institute said. South Asia, northern Africa and North America made the largest increases. In Western Europe and Central America, military spending fell.

But the report said the figures might be on the low side as countries are increasingly outsourcing services related to armed conflicts, such as military training and providing logistics in combat zones, without classifying them as military expenditures.

Such outsourcing has more than doubled in the last 15 years, and was estimated to have reached $100 million during 2004, SIPRI researcher Caroline Holmqvist said. The researchers predicted it would double again from current levels by 2010.
"This is a global phenomenon," Holmqvist said, adding it was difficult to provide exact figures. "This is an industry that is not largely regulated."

As a region, South Asia saw the biggest rise in military expenditure, largely because India boosted its defense budget by 19 percent in a move that could provide a "real setback" to the country's attempts at ending a decades-long conflict with neighbor Pakistan, Skons said.
P Pogo142Post Master
Your graphs don't really answer the post. They are measuring the GDP of countries and the US has the largest. Just becasue we have a larger economy doesn't mean we need to spend half of it on the military.

Military spending has been on the rise since Reagan, who made it part of his platform as did Bush Sr and Jr. They also promised to cut social spending and did. Even Clinton cut social spending.

The US lags behind many industrialized countries in many catagories in our quality of life, like health care, education, job security, pensions, free time, housing, education etc.
P Pogo142Post Master
This is the full article originally posted by pba for those who obviously didn't take time to read it.

Also remember that the Iraq War is not firhured into the budget but is seperate and is rising toward a trillon dollars. It is a billion dollars a day.

Green Left - Fighting fund: The US$564 billion war for profit

http://www.greenleft.org.au/2007/708/36771


Fighting fund: The US$564 billion war for profit


Peter Boyle
4 May 2007


This year’s proposed US spending on the Iraq war is larger than the military budgets of China and Russia combined. The combined spending requests would push the total for Iraq to US$564 billion, according to the non-partisan Congressional Research Service (CRS).

The Pentagon budget for the current fiscal year (2007) is about $456 billion. President George Bush’s proposed increase of 10% for next year will raise this figure to over half a trillion dollars, that is, $501.6 billion for fiscal year (FY) 2008.

A proposed supplemental appropriation to pay for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq “brings proposed military spending for FY 2008 to $647.2 billion, the highest level of military spending since the end of World War II", the CRS said.

Total proposed US military spending for 2008 is larger than military spending by all of the other nations in the world combined. It is:

•10 times the military budget of the second-largest military spending country in the world, China;

•larger than the combined gross domestic products of all 47 countries in sub-Saharan Africa;

•more than 30 times higher than all spending on State Department operations and non-military foreign aid combined;

•more than 120 times higher than the roughly $5 billion per year the US government spends on combatting global warming, and;

•represents 58 cents out of every dollar spent by the US government on discretionary programs: education, health, housing assistance, international affairs, natural resources and environment, justice, veterans’ benefits, science and space, transportation, training/employment and social services, economic development and several more items.

According to an April 27 article “Iraq war: a nice little earner” in Asia Times Online by Ismael Hossein-zadeh, an economics professor at Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa, said: “Although the official military budget already eats up the lion’s share of the public money (crowding out vital domestic needs), it nonetheless grossly understates the true magnitude of military spending. The real national defense budget, according to Robert Higgs of the Independent Institute, is nearly twice as much as the official budget.

“The reason for this understatement is that the official Department of Defense budget excludes not only the cost of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also a number of other major cost items.”

That sort of money could go a long way to addressing so many of the world’s most urgent problems. But war is a very profitable business for some very big and powerful corporations such as Halliburton, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Vinnell and Blackwater. It has been argued that rather than profiteering from war, these corporations are making war for profit. Many of them would not exist as we know them without war.

Halliburton alone has already taken more than $13 billion from no-bid/no-audit US government contracts for providing everything from pizzas to security personnel in Iraq.

US Vice President and former Halliburton CEO Dick Cheney currently holds 100,000 shares of unexercised stock options in Halliburton with a gross value of $3.2 million.

So the term “capitalist war-mongers” isn’t just a slogan — it’s a statement of an ugly reality.

If you want to fight the system run by these corporate war criminals then help keep the Green Left Weekly project afloat. Since the last issue, Green Left Weekly supporters raised $2913 bringing the total raised for our fighting fund so far this year to $59,908. That’s 24% of our $250,000 target for this year.
KindredKindredOld Faithful
quote:
Originally posted by Pogo142:
Military spending on rise

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/2005...EWS06/506080460/1012


June 8, 2005

Military spending on rise
Global outlays top $1 trillion, highest since Cold War peak; U.S. accounts for nearly half.
[]
Associated Press

STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Global military spending in 2004 broke the $1 trillion barrier for the first time since the Cold War, boosted by the U.S. war against terror and the growing defense budgets of India and China, a European think tank said Tuesday.
Led by the United States, which accounted for almost half of all military expenditures, the world spent $1.035 trillion on defense, equal to 2.6 percent of global gross domestic product, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said.

Besides its regular defense budget, the United States has allocated $238 billion since 2003 to fight terrorism, according to the report. "These appropriations are now assuming extraordinary proportions," said SIPRI researcher Elisabeth Skons, who co-authored the organization's annual report.

Adjusted for inflation, the figure for global military spending in 2004 is only 6 percent lower than its Cold War peak in 1987-1988, Skons said.

Total military expenditures grew 6 percent in 2004 over the previous year, in line with an average annual increase since 2002, the institute said. South Asia, northern Africa and North America made the largest increases. In Western Europe and Central America, military spending fell.

But the report said the figures might be on the low side as countries are increasingly outsourcing services related to armed conflicts, such as military training and providing logistics in combat zones, without classifying them as military expenditures.

Such outsourcing has more than doubled in the last 15 years, and was estimated to have reached $100 million during 2004, SIPRI researcher Caroline Holmqvist said. The researchers predicted it would double again from current levels by 2010.
"This is a global phenomenon," Holmqvist said, adding it was difficult to provide exact figures. "This is an industry that is not largely regulated."

As a region, South Asia saw the biggest rise in military expenditure, largely because India boosted its defense budget by 19 percent in a move that could provide a "real setback" to the country's attempts at ending a decades-long conflict with neighbor Pakistan, Skons said.



I appreciate this article... because if people aren't LISTENING to the news, or reading in the papers, we are spending BILLIONS upon BILLIONS of dollars on this war!!! And the bad thing is when it is over, we will be spending another BILLIONS ON TOP OF BILLIONS on rebuilding the damage we have done!!!

It is just plain COMMON SENSE to know that we are spending more now than ever on war and war efforts and things to do with our 2 wars...

I think the final count in NewsWeek at the Doc's office 2 weeks ago said it was over 900 BILLION dollars gone to the Middle Eastern War...

MONEY, GREEEEEEEED, and evil is the only thing we can say for what is going on.
KindredKindredOld Faithful
quote:
Originally posted by Pogo142:
Your graphs don't really answer the post. They are measuring the GDP of countries and the US has the largest. Just becasue we have a larger economy doesn't mean we need to spend half of it on the military.

Military spending has been on the rise since Reagan, who made it part of his platform as did Bush Sr and Jr. They also promised to cut social spending and did. Even Clinton cut social spending.

The US lags behind many industrialized countries in many catagories in our quality of life, like health care, education, job security, pensions, free time, housing, education etc.



ANOTHER reply I really appreciate... I studied the graphs, and still got no answers... thought it was just my brain wasn't wrapping around it the way it should...

Thanks for clarifying that!!!
Phoenix RisingPhoenix RisingPost Master
quote:
Your graphs don't really answer the post. They are measuring the GDP of countries and the US has the largest. Just because we have a larger economy doesn't mean we need to spend half of it on the military.

Military spending has been on the rise since Reagan, who made it part of his platform as did Bush Sr and Jr. They also promised to cut social spending and did. Even Clinton cut social spending.

The US lags behind many industrialized countries in many catagories in our quality of life, like health care, education, job security, pensions, free time, housing, education etc.



The graphs showed precisely the point. It showed military spending as a PERCENTAGE OF GDP. With regards to spening half of it on the military I think I pointed out we spend 3.6 percent which last time I checked is not half and I've showed that this figure is historically low.

With regards to falling behind other countries in terms of Education, Health care lets see some numbers so we can address each issue. I think we will find we are falling behind in some areas but I'll contend we continue to throw money at some of the issues and they don't get any better.

If Japan is spending half what we are per child on Education and getting twice the result what do you suggest, spending more money?

I think across the board you will find that throwing money at a issue isn't the answer. For example here is a graph showing health care expenditures as a percentage of GDP:

P Pogo142Post Master
The size of a countries economy doesn't mean they should have equal the rise in their militay spending so the graphs are misleading.

Social Security is growing as more people retire and is counted as social spending but workers and their employers pay into the fund. It's not part of the budget.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are also not counted in the budget and are costing a billion dollars a day.

Also if you check other countries you will see that they do spend on education and have good results. An informed and educated public is real National Security. They also spend less on health care and have better results as well as other programs to help their people.

Funny how people will argue that spending money on a problem like social programs deosn't solve the problem except when it comes to military spending.

It's a big ripp-off.
Southern PatriotSouthern PatriotHall of Famer
quote:
Originally posted by Pogo142:
The size of a countries economy doesn't mean they should have equal the rise in their militay spending so the graphs are misleading.

Social Security is growing as more people retire and is counted as social spending but workers and their employers pay into the fund. It's not part of the budget.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are also not counted in the budget and are costing a billion dollars a day.

Also if you check other countries you will see that they do spend on education and have good results. An informed and educated public is real National Security. They also spend less on health care and have better results as well as other programs to help their people.

Funny how people will argue that spending money on a problem like social programs deosn't solve the problem except when it comes to military spending.

It's a big ripp-off.


I believe if you'll read this article, you will see that the US spends an extremely large amount on education. As far as I can tell, the more we spend, the less we are getting back for our investment. The problem with the money spent on education is that it goes to the BOE instead of to educating our children. http://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/home/reps/nameri/vusa/wasemb/wassnt/wasstu.html
P Pogo142Post Master
The graphs are comparing spending according to the size of the economy. I believe we have the largest economy in the world.

Unfortunately I have a heavy work schedule right now and don't have time right now to start searching for articles and graphs. I will have to address this later when I have some free time but I also have a hard tine even keeping up with the news, which in my free time comes first.

For 25 years I have watched conservatives show graphs and charts saying how everything is fine and black is really white but in reality eventually we find it was all just "smoke and mirrors."

I have read many times since the 1980's the US has been cutting funding on education and universities are rasing tuition's and cutting back on salaries for teachers and programs. That's a fact. I have talked to teachers about it myself.

I also know we spend the most on health care. I have read it over and over in the push for a National Health Care system. That's why we even see Republicans calling for some kind of health care "reform." We spend the most but are not even in the top 10 in quality for the average person. The money goes to profits and administration costs.

Out tax money is wasted on the military instead of improving the quality of our lives.
P Pogo142Post Master
Yes, numbers and graphs are manipulated, like polls. We have our own graphs and charts. PBA posted the "Oreo Cookie" example. Teachers associations have also put out graphs on how eduction is getting short changed and the money going to the military.

We are constantly being told that congress has to cut welfare and social spending because there is no money but every three months or so they allocated another $90 billion or more to their wars. We don't see the military getting cuts. Bush's policy since he was first running in 2000 was to raise the defense budget, which he has. It's over $500 billion a year, that's over a billion a day, plus the billion a day we spend for his wars in the Mideast.

The original post is pointing out that we have spent half a trillion on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the war is not for our benefit but to secure the control of oil and profits for oil corporations. It is also to push privatization and Corporate Globalization.
Phoenix RisingPhoenix RisingPost Master
quote:
Yes, numbers and graphs are manipulated, like polls. We have our own graphs and charts.



So basically what you are saying is that a poll or graph can't be trusted unless it supports your assertions. The graphs I've showed show that a percentage of the GDP military spending has remained relatively constant for the last 60 years and education spending has risen.

Show me a chart, graph, or statistic that would indicate otherwise.
P Pogo142Post Master
Phoenix Rising

So basically what you are saying is that a poll or graph can't be trusted unless it supports your assertions. The graphs I've showed show that a percentage of the GDP military spending has remained relatively constant for the last 60 years and education spending has risen.

Show me a chart, graph, or statistic that would indicate otherwise.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Military spending doesn't have to increase if the economy increases. If the economy increases and the spending ratio remains the same then it has gone up.

It's fact it has gone up. Bush raised it to half a trillion, the highest it has ever been.

You are saying you don't accept pba's charts because it doesn't support your assertion. I am saying that I go on what I have read in the news for the last 25 years and some common sense.

Military spending has gone up and social spending has gone down. Poverty has increased.
The US spends the most in the world and no one is even close.
P Pogo142Post Master
I and pba have posted articles and pba posted a chart.

Here is more from the Center for Defense Information. An organization of retired miliary officers that monitor the military. It is from 2003 and our defense budget continues to grow.

Last of the Big Time Spenders: U.S. Military Budget Still the World's Largest, and Growing

http://www.cdi.org/program/document.cfm?DocumentID=1040...&from_page=index.cfm


March 19, 2003

Last of the Big Time Spenders: U.S. Military Budget Still the World's Largest, and Growing



Selected Countries Military Budget
($Billions)
United States 399.1
Russia* 65.0
China* 47.0
Japan 42.6
United Kingdom 38.4
France 29.5
Germany 24.9
Saudi Arabia 21.3
Italy 19.4
India 15.6
South Korea 14.1
Brazil* 10.7
Taiwan* 10.7
Israel 10.6
Spain 8.4
Australia 7.6
Canada 7.6
Netherlands 6.6
Turkey 5.8
Mexico 5.9
Kuwait* 3.9
Ukraine 5.0
Iran* 4.8
Singapore 4.8
Sweden 4.5
Egypt* 4.4
Norway 3.8
Greece 3.5
Poland 3.5
Argentina* 3.3
United Arab Emirates* 3.1
Colombia* 2.9
Belgium 2.7
Pakistan* 2.6
Denmark 2.4
Vietnam 2.4
North Korea* 2.1
Czech Republic 1.6
Iraq* 1.4
Philippines 1.4
Portugal 1.3
Libya* 1.2
Hungary 1.1
Syria 1.0
Cuba* 0.8
Sudan* 0.6
Yugoslavia 0.7
Luxembourg 0.2



Figures are for latest year available, usually 2002. Expenditures are used in a few cases where official budgets are significantly lower than actual spending. The figure for the United States is from the annual budget request for Fiscal Year 2004. * 2001 Funding Table prepared by Center for Defense Information.

Sources: International Institute for Strategic Studies, Department of Defense
"For 45 years of the Cold War we were in an arms race with the Soviet Union. Now it appears we're in an arms race with ourselves."
Admiral Eugene Carroll, Jr., U.S. Navy (Ret.)
Vice President Emeritus
Center for Defense Information


Author(s): Christopher Hellman
Phoenix RisingPhoenix RisingPost Master
The military budget was the worlds largest under every president since FDR. You fail to mention that and I think its important as it adds a little perspective. Of course that doesn't fit in with what you are trying to imply.

In terms of real dollars military expenditures tend to go up especially when you are fighting 2 wars. With regards to it being the highest ever thats untrue. It was over a trillion dollars during WW II.

U.S. Military Spending, 1946–2009
(billions of actual or projected dollars)
Year Spending
1946 $556.9
1947 52.4
1948 103.9
1949 144.2
1950 141.2
1951 224.3
1952 402.1
1953 442.3
1954 420.9
1955 376.9
1956 356.2
1957 $360.9
1958 352.9
1959 352.5
1960 344.3
1961 344.0
1962 363.4
1963 368.0
1964 364.4
1965 333.1
1966 356.2
1967 412.0
1968 $449.3
1969 438.1
1970 406.3
1971 370.6
1972 343.8
1973 313.3
1974 299.7
1975 293.3
1976 283.8
1977 286.2
1978 286.5
1979 $295.6
1980 303.4
1981 317.4
1982 339.4
1983 366.7
1984 381.7
1985 405.4
1986 426.6
1987 427.9
1988 426.4
1989 427.7
1990 $409.7
1991 358.1
1992 379.5
1993 358.6
1994 338.6
1995 321.6
1996 307.4
1997 305.3
1998 296.7
1999 298.4
2000 311.7
2001 $307.8
2002 328.7
2003 404.91
2004 455.91
2005 495.31,2
2006 535.91,2
2007 527.41,2
2008 494.41,2
2009 494.31,2
Last edited by Phoenix Rising
P Pogo142Post Master
Every president has been a war president whether democrat or republican, although Carter and Clinton were more cautious of wasting money on unnecessary weapons. I am not singling out Bush so much but he has now raised it again. We are under the grip of what Eisenhower called the "Military Industrial Complex".

Our economy is war based. Bush is expanding it. We use our military for profits and power.

In WW2 we were fighting two wars also but it was against two major industrial powers.
These wars today are two guerilla resistance movements to our occupation. Our high priced sophisticated weapons are proving to be ineffective. It hardly justifies the half trillion we are spending on these wars not including another half trillion on the defense budget besides the wars.

Military strength or security does not automatically come with home much money a country spends. As we are finding out in Iraq and Afghanistan and al Qaeda. As Ed pointed out in a previous thread Russia has cut it's military budget but can still defend itself.

No power is even close to spending what we spend.

A public that is educated, has health care, housing,a sound economy and jobs and quality of life is real National Security.
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