When one should should take a look at the Countries spending the most on the military, the numbers are quite unbelievable. The United States government spent approximately $618.7 billion dollars in the year 2013 solely on defense spending. The country that totals the second highest is China, with a defense budget of $171.4 billion dollars in. If we move further down the list, Russia will be seen at the third position with a budget of $84.9 billion dollars. In fact, if one were to look at the budgets shown for other nations below the United States, it would show that The U.S. spends more on defense than the next eight countries combined. These countries include- going down the list- China, Russia, Japan, Saudi Arabia, France, The United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, and India; all of which are allies of the US.
Statistics also state that the level of US defense spending has actually decreased in recent years by about 7.8%, while the other countries have increased in the same category. Among the next four countries behind the US, China increased its defense spending by about 7.4%, Russia increased by 4.8%, Saudi Arabia increased by 9.3%, and France decreased by 2.3%. In spite of that, the US still accounted for 37% of the world's defense spending in 2013.
I don't really see the relevance in spending this much militarily when we have much more pressing matters in our country to tend to. In the next post, I shall speak of the difference in US defense spending compared to the other aspect of our budget.
Hi Darnell. In all actuality, World War II military spending did not end the Great Depression.
ReplyDeleteIn fact,
"In Depression, War, and Cold War, Robert Higgs divides the Great Depression into three phases. The Great Contraction occurred during the Hoover years and went from 1929 to 1933. During this period private investment fell by about 84 percent. This set the stage for the Great Duration, 1933–1945. As Higgs shows, GDP and private investment increased during the early years of the New Deal, but as the 1930s wore on, President Franklin Roosevelt became ever bolder about undermining property rights. This delayed complete recovery. Finally, there was the Great Escape, which occurred after and in spite of World War II, not because of it. Higgs argues that the Great Escape occurred as a result of a partial dismantling of the regulatory infrastructure that had grown up during the Depression and the war; in effect, it was a rediscovery of the market and a new birth of freedom for entrepreneurs and workers."
http://mises.org/daily/5069
Furthermore, I agree that significant military spending cuts need to be made to reduce America's excessive involvement abroad and entanglement in the affairs of other countries. We have seen this effect "blowback" on the US through the dramatic growth of terror groups like ISIS or Gulf State funding of terror groups. Furthermore, the US should not intervene in other countries unless they pose a direct threat to us or else the US risks creating two or three more problems through perpetual entanglement.
However, I do not necessarily believe that the government should allocate this money to subjective "pressing matters". In consideration of the size and scope of the federal budget, cuts need to be made in all areas to prevent future hyperinflation and debt default. Furthermore, please consider that along with our high military spending, we also spend $2 trillion on mandatory spending that includes entitlements like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, interest payments, and other areas that is incredibly higher than the $618.7 billion in military expenditures. While you may disagree, I see that privatization of such areas while leaving the military to be at a size of a small defense force are
the best solutions that do not involve shortsighted compromises and avert a future debt crisis.
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2013/08/federal-spending-by-the-numbers-2013