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It's funny that you think you're buying civilization with your taxes when the vasty majority of the money you give the government is used to actively destroy ci

It's funny that you think you're buying civilization with your taxes when the vasty majority of the money you give the government is used to actively destroy civilization. Bombs aren't cheap.

sbierwagen 10y ago
Vast majority? Military spending is only 15.75% of the US federal budget. And that's just federal spending, citizens also pay taxes to states and municipalities, which rarely field combat aircraft.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- dragontamer 10y ago
  And one of the biggest Military Deployment in the past 10 years was 5,000 troops to Japan to assist in Fukashima. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/11/fukushima-navy-health-problems_n_2855529.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/11/fukushima-navy-heal... Even if you think that "Fighting ISIS" is destroying civilization (erm... ambiguous. They're destroying civilization. And we are destroying them. I'd say that's a net-gain), there are plenty of good-will projects from the military. Like GPS, Nuclear Power, and more.
  - talnet 10y ago
    And OSI and many more.
  - forgotpwtomain 10y ago
    > Even if you think that "Fighting ISIS" is destroying civilization "Funding ISIS" (or loosely supplies and training for sectarian groups the US had(s) no control over).
    - NTripleOne 10y ago
      I daren't guess how many lists you're on now for putting those two words together.
- miles 10y ago
  While military spending (not counting veterans' benefits) in 2015 was around 16% of the total US federal budget[1,2], it made up 53.71% of the discretionary spending budget, dwarfing the next closest category, "government", at 6.54%. From the BusinessInsider link below: "The military budget is by far the largest single cost displayed. It is almost six times larger than the 2015 education budget and it is more than 34 times the size of NASA's 2015 operating budget. In total, the costs of running the military amount to approximately 16% of the overall 2015 US budget." [1] http://www.businessinsider.com/the-us-defense-budget-is-massive-2015-8 http://www.businessinsider.com/the-us-defense-budget-is-mass... [2] https://www.nationalpriorities.org/budget-basics/federal-budget-101/spending/ https://www.nationalpriorities.org/budget-basics/federal-bud...
  - azernik 10y ago
    And discretionary spending is a useful metric... why? Your taxes go to funding both discretionary and non-discretionary spending, so of your tax money, yes, military spending is only around 16%.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
- alkonaut 10y ago
  You also used by far the worst example (US). Most countries with militaries spend 1% or thereabouts.
- LNMNMMMC 10y ago
  With State and local spending, Military comes to ~10% of our tax dollars.
Frondo 10y ago
I don't need to (and don't) agree with every single thing my country/state/city does. It would be rather silly to expect that, anyway. I mean, with friends and relatives, I compromise all the time. I'm sure they do, too. That's part of what life entails, compromising with the people and groups around you. I don't see why my government would be any different; and just like with friends and loved ones, I get a chance to voice my opinion, both with regular changes of power (elections) and in regular conversation (freedom of speech!). So funding a very small part of the country's oversized military budget, well, that's a compromise I make, because I generally like living here and am happy to pay for (most of) the other stuff.

It's funny that you think you're buying civilization with your taxes when the vasty majority of the money you give the government is used to actively destroy civilization. Bombs aren't cheap.

sbierwagen 10y ago

Vast majority? Military spending is only 15.75% of the US federal budget. And that's just federal spending, citizens also pay taxes to states and municipalities, which rarely field combat aircraft.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
dragontamer 10y ago
And one of the biggest Military Deployment in the past 10 years was 5,000 troops to Japan to assist in Fukashima. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/11/fukushima-navy-health-problems_n_2855529.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/11/fukushima-navy-heal... Even if you think that "Fighting ISIS" is destroying civilization (erm... ambiguous. They're destroying civilization. And we are destroying them. I'd say that's a net-gain), there are plenty of good-will projects from the military. Like GPS, Nuclear Power, and more.
- talnet 10y ago
  And OSI and many more.
- forgotpwtomain 10y ago
  > Even if you think that "Fighting ISIS" is destroying civilization "Funding ISIS" (or loosely supplies and training for sectarian groups the US had(s) no control over).
  - NTripleOne 10y ago
    I daren't guess how many lists you're on now for putting those two words together.
miles 10y ago
While military spending (not counting veterans' benefits) in 2015 was around 16% of the total US federal budget[1,2], it made up 53.71% of the discretionary spending budget, dwarfing the next closest category, "government", at 6.54%. From the BusinessInsider link below: "The military budget is by far the largest single cost displayed. It is almost six times larger than the 2015 education budget and it is more than 34 times the size of NASA's 2015 operating budget. In total, the costs of running the military amount to approximately 16% of the overall 2015 US budget." [1] http://www.businessinsider.com/the-us-defense-budget-is-massive-2015-8 http://www.businessinsider.com/the-us-defense-budget-is-mass... [2] https://www.nationalpriorities.org/budget-basics/federal-budget-101/spending/ https://www.nationalpriorities.org/budget-basics/federal-bud...
- azernik 10y ago
  And discretionary spending is a useful metric... why? Your taxes go to funding both discretionary and non-discretionary spending, so of your tax money, yes, military spending is only around 16%.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
alkonaut 10y ago
You also used by far the worst example (US). Most countries with militaries spend 1% or thereabouts.
LNMNMMMC 10y ago
With State and local spending, Military comes to ~10% of our tax dollars.

Frondo 10y ago

I don't need to (and don't) agree with every single thing my country/state/city does. It would be rather silly to expect that, anyway. I mean, with friends and relatives, I compromise all the time. I'm sure they do, too. That's part of what life entails, compromising with the people and groups around you. I don't see why my government would be any different; and just like with friends and loved ones, I get a chance to voice my opinion, both with regular changes of power (elections) and in regular conversation (freedom of speech!). So funding a very small part of the country's oversized military budget, well, that's a compromise I make, because I generally like living here and am happy to pay for (most of) the other stuff.