DEFENSE SPENDING AT $1.6 TRILLION, UNDERMINES OUR FUTURE!

LET'S NOT CALL IT “DEFENSE” SPENDING


In 2013 the US federal budget expenditure is estimated at nearly $4 trillion dollars, while our total revenue is expected to be about $3 trillion dollars.  Thus our deficit for this fiscal year will be just about one trillion dollars.  Unbelievably our government spends four dollars for every three  we take in revenue.   That is the problem!  And is the basis for much of the demand for austerity measures by the Republicans and some Democrats.  The Republicans see any and all domestic spending as a giveaway to "buy" votes, and they focus only on the need to cut domestic spending.  They claim runaway social spending is the main problem.  While they decry government outlays to the poor, ill, young and elderly they continue to support military adventurism abroad and military spending in general.
They claim Social Security (a pay as you go insurance program) and Medicare are the big problem items in our budget that must be cut to achieve fiscal balance.  They love to ignore the real problem, the elephant in the room, the bloated and sacrosanct defense budget.  The fact is the military and defense budget is our main problem.  Were we to get  that under control we could return to a balanced budget and still have more than enough for investment in our future, a world of scarce energy, and for the real needs of our young, our elderly, poor and infirm.

The fact is that few of us know what  our real defense expenditures are.  Those so-called "defense" figures are difficult to come by. The government, whether Democrat or Republican, likes to keep us thinking that the defense budget is smaller than it is. To do that they tend to spread out the costs, sliding them into other budget categories so we actually have to ferret the figures out, then burn up more mental energy to add them up...and most of us do not like to deal with those awfully big numbers.

How much we actually spend on the defense and materiel is difficult to pry out of government documents. But, let us try.  A recent Department of Defense (DOD) press release indicates that of nearly four trillion dollars total US expenditures for fiscal year (fy) 2013, the so called “defense” budget amounts to $525.4 billion to fund “base defense programs”, and an additional $89 billion for the continuing conflict in Afghanistan (a drop from the 2012 budget where Afghanistan cost us $115 billion).  Thus the official DOD "total" for 2013 fy is claimed to be $614 billion.

But that figure does not include “incidental” costs, such as an additional $59 billion  Pentagon spending which brings the total up to about $673 billion for 2013.

Most of us would agree that the Natonal Security Agency (NSA) and the CIA are clearly defense-related cost. But the US government keeps them separate. Costs associated with the NSA and the CIA’s intelligence gathering and increasingly wide ranging covert wars, and illegal foreign assassination programs are defense related costs. These amounted to another $53 billion.  (New total: $726)

Nuclear war and arms are expensive too. Just maintaining our huge stockpile as well as additional bomb-making and other costs will encumber us with another $20billion this year. (New total: $796 billion)

We will spend another $13 billion on Homeland security (New total:$809 billion) and an additional $11 billion on the Coast Guard. (New total: $820 billion)

And as noted noted above, our profligate spending habits are such that for every dollar we spend we must borrow 25 cents, which means we have a substantial outstanding balance to pay interest on.  Thus our costs must include the interest on our debt related to these expenditures. (In 2012 it was $432 billion) Furthermore,  we have a large standing army the members of which are all rightly entitled to excellent and expensive comprehensive medical care. Those medical expenses extend to the millions of veterans of past wars for whom we pay medical benefits each year, as well as specialized medical procedures and services for those soldiers who came back severely wounded, as well as survivor benefits to the wives and children of those who unfortunately and tragically did not come back. These added costs are often included under social and medical expenses, and they add another $800 billion or so to our all-encompassing defense spending.

So adding all those direct costs and hidden costs that the government does not want to advertise, the “all encompassing” national security bill for the nation’s “defense” is comes to a whopping $1.6 trillion dollars. (See: “The Uncalculated, unreported,real defense budget” by Joan McCarter, The Kos, February 1, 2013).  Therefore the actual costs of "defense" are not $500 billion plus, the DOD press-releases indicate, or even the $700 billion the NY Times and other media sometimes claim, but more than double what is generally stated (depending on which misleading figures you begin with).

The actual "all-encompassing" defense expenditure of $1.6 trillion makes so-called "defense” the largest outlay in our annual budget!  That is not how our government bureaucrats and media elites would like you to see it.  Based on our $3.8 trillion dollar budget for 2013, that amount ($1.6 trillion) represents just about 42% of the total. (Not the more reasonable looking 24% often indicated on government charts.)  Washington therefore spend about 42 cents out of every dollar on defense and defense-related matters. That huge amount, greater than the total of the entire world's defense expenditure makes our military truly the largest and most expensive military in the entire world.  The emphasis on militarism here in the US and the diversion of two-fifths of our income into purely military pursuits, clearly explains why, in comparison to other modern western nations, we have the lowest life expectancy, highest infant mortality, poorest health care results, a weak and faltering education system, the most paltry social safety net, rickety railroads, skimpy and spotty broadband, and third-world class infrastructure (such as pot-holed roads and dangerous bridges).   We have built a world class military and are living in a nation headed into third world status. Ironically our military defense posture and profligate defense spending appears to be more of a threat to our well being and security than a benefit. We are in the process of squandering our wealth on a bloated military.  Furthermore, it is truly criminal that in a nation that prides itself on being the premiere open democracy in the western world, that we allow our government to obfuscate and fudge the essential figures on the military and its spending the way they do,so it becomes nearly impossible for  average citizens to actually have an open discussion on these matters.

In 2013 the US treasury awaits annual revenue of $2.9 trillion. Of that amount $1.7 trillion is expected from income taxes, $1.0 trillion from Social Security and payroll taxes, while $100 billion is expected from business taxes, and $200 billion from value added taxes.   The number that stands out in this array is the $1.7 trillion in tax revenue. As Joan McCarter has pointed out (op cit) so well, that means that amost every dollar of the largest chunk of income the government takes in will all go to defense spending ($1.6 trillion). Let me repeat that. Our military and defense spending out lay is just about equal to nearly all the revenue we take in in income taxes! That is truly astounding! Or as Ms McCarter notes, it is "mind blowing".

We might note here as well that the $1.6 trillion dollar figure represents just about 10% of our GDP or Gross Domestic Product. That is an enormous hit on our GDP and not matched by any other democratic western nation which typically have defense budgets in the one and two percent range.
The facts: For every three dollars we take in, we spend four. Our spending should be reined in, but where are we spending most profligately? We spend $1.6 trillion annually on defense and its related costs. That is ten percent of our GDP and 42% of our annual budget,  and by far our largest government expenditure.   Were we to count only the DOD "base costs" ($525 billion), our nation still out-spends the combined defense budgets of the next top thirteen well armed nations. Let me make that clear, if we add up the defense budgets  of China, Russia, France, Spain, Japan, Germany, Italy,etc. etc. etc. the total amount they spend combined is still less than our "base defense" budget. Who could we possibly be gearing up to fight? We are by all accounts over armed. The facts are that the real threat to our nation's well being is not our domestic entitlement spending but our bloated military spending which will eventually make a pauper nation out of us without radical trimming. Those legislators who claim that they are pure in heart and their aims to balance the budget are for the benefit of the nation, must first look to that $1.6 trillion in defense and military spending. That is where the fat is, not on the boney backs of the poor, the weak, the young and the ill. Spending $1.6 trillion, 42 % of our budget, 10% of our GDP, equivalent to the amount we all pay in income txes each year on defense weakens our economy and undermines our nations future.

Get the picture?


rjk


Budget breakdown for 2012 DOD spending $707.5 billion "base budget" plus FBI counter-terrorism @ $ 3 billion International Affairs. @ $63 billion (maximum) Energy Department, defense-related @$22 billion Veterans Affairs @$70 billion Homeland Security. @$40 billion NASA, satellite surveillance up to $9 billion Veterans pensions @$55 billion Other defense-related mandatory spending @ $8 billion Interest on debt incurred in past wars Up to $432 billion Total Spending for 2012 @ $1.4 trillion