Michael
Apr 28th 2009, 09:03 PM
US Military Spending
As is commonly asserted, the US Government presently spends more money 'defense' than all other nations on earth added together. That is to say, the US represents 50% of the total planetary defense spending (combined). That is a staggering sum of money and one of the principal reasons that the US has a structural fiscal deficit (and an ever-rising national debt). Unlike other forms of 'industrial subsidies' that western governments like to engage in from time to time, this one doesn't produce much in the way of value-added export (since the US is the only really big and profitable market available - and national security prevents the export of anything that is has particularly high demand). Yes the US does engage in defense exports, and this number looks quite large in comparison to other nations, but overall, the level of US defense exports is dwarfed by the size of the domestic US defense market.
It is also to be noted that large-scale conventional warfare has become [remarkably] less common than in the past. Maybe not overall in a total planetary way (Africa has a serious problem with endemic warfare), but with respect to the 'more developed half' of the world's nations, large-scale conventional warfare has become less common since WW2. Not eliminated, not gone, just slightly less prevailent than previous times.
Lastly, I just don't see any serious conventional military threat to US homeland security on the present horizon. Sure new threats can arise tomorrow and one needs to be ready to address that, but overall, the level of US military spending is - comparatively speaking - not healthy. It is not good for the US economy to fund this military machine with debts laid on the next generation, it is not good for the US citizenry to focus too much political capital on maintaining the largest war-machine on the planet, and it is not good for US morality to become dependent upon making (and using) weapons of war as a way of life or a national economic policy.
On this basis, I believe the US can and should (at the very least) try to slow down the rate of increasing military spending. I think that a temporary spending 'freeze' would be a better target/goal here, but I recognize that is radical enough, given the political issues involved here. The idea of even thinking about the tiniest reduction in overall military spending levels is enough to be considered a wild-eyed radical and totally outside the mainstream of US political discussion. This needs to change. A temporary freeze on increasing military spending would not constitute becoming 'neutral' or 'surrendering' or 'hating America' or any such nonsense.
And lets not be coy here - a freeze on increasing spending means that, over time, spending cuts will become necessary as inflation erodes the value of the budget. Even decreasing the rate of increasing military spending (which averages 5-7% growth per year) would still involve cutting planned military spending. Indeed, just to maintain current US military force into the future will entail constantly increasing the rate of military spending (as each generation of weapons development tends to be an order of magnitude more expensive than the one it replaces).
So, the purpose of this thread discussion is to explore the ways and means that the US military could (theoretically) reduce overall spending. While I think it is important to keep in mind the traditional and customary US political environment that makes any kind of military reduction an extremely difficult undertaking, I also think that some 'thinking outside the box' might also be helpful here. This is a discussion that needs to happen at higher political levels, but I respectfully submit, that the American citizenry owe it to themselves to be a part of the dialogue - or at the very least, become aware of it.
To this end, I would like to discuss possible ways that the US Government could reduce their overall military spending - though it must be assumed that US politics requires that the US military maintains its status as the world's premier military force. I think discussion of that topic is indeed, too far outside the mainstream to be worthy of discussion. The US military is not going to abdicate its position as the world's premier military power and that's all there is to it. I'm only talking about ways that the US could still maintain this primary goal and still do it with less overall spending. For the sake of the future of American prosperity an answer to this challenge must be made.
Does anyone have any thoughts or ideas on this important issue?
As is commonly asserted, the US Government presently spends more money 'defense' than all other nations on earth added together. That is to say, the US represents 50% of the total planetary defense spending (combined). That is a staggering sum of money and one of the principal reasons that the US has a structural fiscal deficit (and an ever-rising national debt). Unlike other forms of 'industrial subsidies' that western governments like to engage in from time to time, this one doesn't produce much in the way of value-added export (since the US is the only really big and profitable market available - and national security prevents the export of anything that is has particularly high demand). Yes the US does engage in defense exports, and this number looks quite large in comparison to other nations, but overall, the level of US defense exports is dwarfed by the size of the domestic US defense market.
It is also to be noted that large-scale conventional warfare has become [remarkably] less common than in the past. Maybe not overall in a total planetary way (Africa has a serious problem with endemic warfare), but with respect to the 'more developed half' of the world's nations, large-scale conventional warfare has become less common since WW2. Not eliminated, not gone, just slightly less prevailent than previous times.
Lastly, I just don't see any serious conventional military threat to US homeland security on the present horizon. Sure new threats can arise tomorrow and one needs to be ready to address that, but overall, the level of US military spending is - comparatively speaking - not healthy. It is not good for the US economy to fund this military machine with debts laid on the next generation, it is not good for the US citizenry to focus too much political capital on maintaining the largest war-machine on the planet, and it is not good for US morality to become dependent upon making (and using) weapons of war as a way of life or a national economic policy.
On this basis, I believe the US can and should (at the very least) try to slow down the rate of increasing military spending. I think that a temporary spending 'freeze' would be a better target/goal here, but I recognize that is radical enough, given the political issues involved here. The idea of even thinking about the tiniest reduction in overall military spending levels is enough to be considered a wild-eyed radical and totally outside the mainstream of US political discussion. This needs to change. A temporary freeze on increasing military spending would not constitute becoming 'neutral' or 'surrendering' or 'hating America' or any such nonsense.
And lets not be coy here - a freeze on increasing spending means that, over time, spending cuts will become necessary as inflation erodes the value of the budget. Even decreasing the rate of increasing military spending (which averages 5-7% growth per year) would still involve cutting planned military spending. Indeed, just to maintain current US military force into the future will entail constantly increasing the rate of military spending (as each generation of weapons development tends to be an order of magnitude more expensive than the one it replaces).
So, the purpose of this thread discussion is to explore the ways and means that the US military could (theoretically) reduce overall spending. While I think it is important to keep in mind the traditional and customary US political environment that makes any kind of military reduction an extremely difficult undertaking, I also think that some 'thinking outside the box' might also be helpful here. This is a discussion that needs to happen at higher political levels, but I respectfully submit, that the American citizenry owe it to themselves to be a part of the dialogue - or at the very least, become aware of it.
To this end, I would like to discuss possible ways that the US Government could reduce their overall military spending - though it must be assumed that US politics requires that the US military maintains its status as the world's premier military force. I think discussion of that topic is indeed, too far outside the mainstream to be worthy of discussion. The US military is not going to abdicate its position as the world's premier military power and that's all there is to it. I'm only talking about ways that the US could still maintain this primary goal and still do it with less overall spending. For the sake of the future of American prosperity an answer to this challenge must be made.
Does anyone have any thoughts or ideas on this important issue?