military spending is accountable for 54 percent of all federal discretionary spending, which is $598.5 billion dollars. The second largest federal discretionary spending is the government, which is only 6% of the spending with $72.9 billion dollars (2). To add on, discretionary spending represents less than one-third of the total federal budget (5). Obviously, with all this spending, the U.S. is at the top of Global Firepower (GFP) list with Russia on the second place (3). There is a total of 4,999 military bases around the world, including U.S. and the number of people working in each military base, that is a lot of money spent on military only (4). So to reduce some spending on defense, the government should reduce the number of military bases, which will result in less personal and less money spend. However, this is difficult to do because many people believe and has been the guarding country for other countries for decades now. Also, many people are employed under the defense department, so if the spending is cut the unemployment rate will…
Military and national defense are public goods, meaning that it could suffer from free rider problem. Citizens of the United States of America will benefit from military, a component of national defense, even if they do not pay directly. However, the production of the service required an input in the form of budget, which is partitioned from the tax collected. In a certain sense, budget for each year can be considered scarce, thus reducing funding for EPA allows for increase budget for military. The benefit for the nation as a whole is the improvement of military power, thus ability for the nation to protect its citizens, interest and sovereignty. Compared to the initial status however, it is perhaps unneeded. US military spending is already ranked as the first in the world, thus the marginal benefit of allocating more funding to such area will result in vastly diminished return. Therefore, the benefit payout, while might be evident in shorter term, might be rather small.…
Technological advancements and it 's new and heavy artillery in modern warfare have been racking up debt and upping the cost of war with the world 's most valuable currency: real human lives. The draft after World War Two forced American boys to pack up their bags and go off to war because it was their only choice- besides running away to Canada or Mexico to avoid it. Because some made it out, the effects of war lingered and were overlooked. The aftermath of the Vietnam War left veterans crippled with memories of the endless rice paddies and ghosts of their lost friends, and many of them were left with trauma disorders, like PTSD. The real cost of war wasn’t the $600 million spent on military and technology, but the 58,000 American lives lost and 350,000 Americans physically or mentally crippled as a result instead. The cost of any war is also the same: trading your sanity or your life for real life combat.…
national security strategy, “remains the only nation to project and sustain large-scale operations over extended distances.” During his campaign for the presidency, Barack Obama frequently pledged to reform the defense budget. But his defense budget, released in the same week as the QDR, shows no clear- cut separation from the spending habits perpetuated in the budgets of his predecessor, George W. Bush. It allocated more funds for Special Forces, helicopters, missile-launching drones and other equipment for the “asymmetric wars” in Afghanistan and Iraq but it also provided for a new aircraft carrier and attack submarines. My society will address the issues involved within military operations that are currently scrutinized by many individuals in current society. Currently in the United States, the voting system for federal, state and municipal elections allows for a representative government headed by a majority party, yet the President may not in all cases be represented by that party as he or she is elected separately. This being the case, often legislative actions are stalled such as those currently involving…
he military should be increased to help protect us in this fast evolving world. The world around us is always changing and other countries aren't going to wait up for us just because we are in a "budget crisis." The us being in a crisis only makes other countries want to advance even faster because they want to surplus and they know that its possible to do if we cut budgets to the military. Also we are in a budget crisis because of all the other dumb things that our government spends money on. For example relief in Haiti. Not needed, we spent millions of dollars in a country that doesn't even matter. Another reason is that Africa relief is pointless we give them food and clean water and what do they do, they go off into the jungle and fight…
The threat to national security has never been more real than now in the United States. In the past, there has been several wars. Some are within the country such as the Civil War or Revolutionary War, while others with are territories such as Vietnam and Afghanistan. Today there is a greater threat to the national security of the United States. Today, fighting is an ongoing war; a war terrorism, drugs, and even North Korea depending, on what the tiny dictator is feeling on a given day. In an article published in The Washington Post, “Shutdown Makes U.S. More Vulnerable to Terrorist Attacks, Intelligence Officials Warn,” by Greg Miller, Miller quotes officials stating what a Government shutdown would mean for the war on Terror. One quote miller uses is from the testimony of Senator James Clapper, advocating to the senate committee, “As each day goes by, the…
4. The estimated cost of war and how much it cost the U.S from 2001-2013…
The basis of defense policy in the United States is put into detail for the audience. The United States does not start fights or conflicts; in the contrary, we have sought to reduce war by seeking arms. This all goes into the special term deterrence—in other words, we maintain peace through our strengths; weakness only invites aggression. Though the strategy of deterrence has pretty much stayed the same over the years, the cost to maintain it has not. Reagan explains the different ways in which the cost has…
During the Cold War the U.S.A.’s military was strong and big and was meant to be a deterrence. It was a race to keep up with Russia. Money was spent in excess on weapons development intended on a traditional war. Our adversaries were uniformed soldiers back by a recognized government, state vs. state and soldier vs soldier (Gorka, n.a., p. 31). As time progressed to today, the Cold War ended as we knew it in the 1950’s and new type of war started; a technology war. The same adversaries we had during the Cold War to include China are in another race for technology dominance. The US Army has adapted in responses with US Army cyberwar teams.…
During the past few weeks, news in Washington has focused on the extreme budget cuts proposed by the Trump administration. Namely, the almost 30% decrease in the budget of the State Department has drawn bipartisan opposition. According to individuals on both sides of the political spectrum, underfunding the Department of State would negatively affect the United States’ national security. Though the White House claims that the budget is still in discussion, many state that the proposal is “dead on arrival” and would disastrous to enact. Though the decision to make some major cuts is a part of Trump’s campaign promise to “reprioritize how American tax dollars are spent”,…
In conclusion, Hanson’s narrow-minded view on what the defense cutbacks would do to the fabric of America did not leverage any clear critical thinking or “rationally-based tools that usually leads to a practical decision.”. 2 His summary clearly demonstrates his inability to leverage critical thinking, appealing to his readers fear and a presenting a false dichotomy. “History’s bleak lesson is that those societies with self-reliant citizens who protect themselves and their interests prosper; those who grow dependent cut back their defenses - and waste away.”…
Since the U.S. has the greatest military spending world nation and it is the highest budget in federal spending, the information presented will discuss the issues of military spending. Understanding how economic growth is working in the United States will influence the opinion of the American society. Since almost 37 percent thinks that we should spend more on military (Newport), this research paper might convince those with such point of views to reconsider their opinions about…
The total budget for the Department of Homeland Security for the 2016 fiscal year was 66 billion dollars (Homeland Security, 2016). This seems like a lot of money, but if you look at all that the Department of Homeland Security does, then you see that it is worth it. Also, if you compare the budget of Homeland Security to the budget of the military’s 585-billion-dollar budget, then Homeland Security’s budget seems small (U.S. DoD, 2015). Some could argue that the job that Homeland Security does is more crucial to the security of the United States, than the military. Therefore, the funding of Homeland Security should be increased, and the country could take a more self-dense approach to dealing with…
As most people will agree, education is an important factor to succeed. Educated people in a society stand for a successful society. The issue in Illinois is the universities aren’t being provided the funds promised to them by the Illinois State government. The schools are being forced to make budget cuts. The teachers at the schools are being forced to take furlough days, which are day they have take off with out a pay. The cause of all of these actions is due to the major debt the State of Illinois is in. The money the state should be paying the universities, the state is using it on other items. University of Illinois is one of the schools that has to take budget cuts. This is unfair to the University of Illinois because the State should be providing that money towards better education but instead it giving is using it insufficiently.…
Olson, L. (2010). Fiscal Year 2011 Defense Spending Request: Briefing Book. The Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, 1,4…