The Military Budget: Staggering Spending, Simple Solution

Posted by: Nicolas Katkevich

President Obama has announced his intention to “freeze” the budgets of certain domestic programs (EPA, Health and Human Services, etc.) at their current level for the coming years. Exempt from this “freeze” are “security programs” such as the budgets of the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security. It is very unfortunate that President Obama has not included the Defense Budget in this proposed freeze. In Reality the Defense budget needs not only to be capped, it needs to be drastically reduced. Under the guidance of this Administration the Department’s budget for 2010 is projected to reach $682 Billion, a $13 billion rise over fiscal year 2009. American needs to take a new path.

Just as we work for peace for ours inner selves and within our communities, spreading the word that violence does not solve problems, the United States government must also follow suit and move away from military might as a means of protection and security. For as long as the United States has a dominant world wide military presence, war waged by America will persist. With so much money and resources invested in the military; whenever a conflict of some sort arises, military use will be a first choice of action. The option of military force must be greatly diminished. The most direct way to achieve this goal is to curb the military budget and reinvest those resources into rebuilding America’s crippled economy and infrastructure.

I propose cutting the Department of Defense budget in half by 2030 to $340 billion. To accomplish this goal about $17 billion would have to be cut from the Defense budget each year. Decreasing the Defense Budget at this rate for would, compared to if the DoD continued to maintain it’s current funding, save $3.57 Trillion dollars over the twenty-year span. These funds would be allocated to rebuilding our economy, investing in green energy and reconstructing our nation’s infrastructure. Moreover the funds saved over this time period could easily wipe out America’s $1.35 trillion dollar debt. Closing overseas military bases (in Japan, Germany, Italy etc.), reducing our nuclear weapons capacity and ending the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan would be great initial steps to achieving this goal. I believe that America can take this path, and it is only through drastically reducing the military budget that our nation not only thrive, but also become a moral beacon for the world.