Think of it. Instead of spending trillions on wars,

[Uncle Joe]

Link to tweet

America’s Defense Budget Is Bigger Than You Think

Each year, Congress approves hundreds of billions of dollars for the US defense budget—but the real number exceeds $1 trillion.

In its latest budget request, the Trump administration is asking for a near-record $750 billion for the Pentagon and related defense activities—an astonishing figure by any measure. If passed by Congress, it will be one of the largest military budgets in American history, topping peak levels reached during the Korean and Vietnam wars. And keep one thing in mind: That $750 billion represents only part of the actual annual cost of our national-security state.

There are at least 10 separate pots of money dedicated to fighting wars, preparing for yet more wars, and dealing with the consequences of wars already fought. So the next time a president, a general, a secretary of defense, or a hawkish member of Congress insists that the US military is woefully underfunded, think twice. A careful look at US defense expenditures offers a healthy corrective to such wildly inaccurate claims.

Now, let’s take a brief dollar-by-dollar tour of the US national-security state of 2019, tallying the sums as we go, and see just where we finally land (or perhaps the word should be “soar”), financially speaking.

(snip)

So our final annual tally for war, preparations for war, and the impact of war comes to more than $1.25 trillion, more than double the Pentagon’s base budget. If the average taxpayer were aware that this amount was being spent in the name of national defense—with much of it wasted, misguided, or simply counterproductive—it might be far harder for the national-security state to consume ever-growing sums with minimal public pushback. For now, however, the gravy train is running full speed ahead, and its main beneficiaries—Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and their cohort—are laughing all the way to the bank.

https://www.thenation.com/article/tom-dispatch-america-defense-budget-bigger-than-you-think/

[LibFarmer]

1. Yeah yeah .. cut Defense spending except F-35's nt

[lapucelle]

2. Or trillions on military boondoggles!

https://www.thedailybeast.com/bernie-sanders-loves-this-dollar1-trillion-war-machine

https://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/12/why-bernie-sanders-is-backing-a-15-trillion-military-boondoggle.html

[sheshe2]

3. +++

[bahrbearian]

4. As long as there is enough money left to fight

Venezuela and Iran

[Uncle Joe]

7. I believe the greatest foreign policy mistake we made in the 20th century

was working to overthrow the democratically elected leader of Iran, virtually every major problem we had in the Middle East flows from that decision.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat

[bahrbearian]

8. I agree ,but all I hear is Crickets.

[LongtimeAZDem]

9. Quite correct; it all started with Operation Ajax

[Martin Eden]

10. Agreed, and invading Iraq was the biggest 21st century blunder

Neither was legitiate self defense, and both had unintended consequences.

[Uncle Joe]

11. I agree Martin Eden.

[brewens]

5. I think the DOD is the biggest cesspool of fraud and corruption in government. Because it can

be. No real audits and Congress never says no to them.

I looked at someone's numbers and we have like ten times the generals per enlisted troops than during WWII. How can that be even close to acceptable? I think even alt-right types would agree WWII was our military's finest hour. Some of them do nothing but lobby Congress. Fire about 2/3 of those assholes!

[lapucelle]

6. Instead of spending trillions on wars...we could spend trillions on useless war pork!

https://www.thedailybeast.com/bernie-sanders-loves-this-dollar1-trillion-war-machine