4 ms·

Genuine question: I always hear about the gigantic military spending in the U.S. I would've expected it to be on top of this list. It can't be only 7. no?

bombcar 4y ago
US military spending is HUGE compared to other countries budgets. It is not that big compared to the US budget - in WW2 we spent about 45% of GDP on military stuff - if that was done today we'd have a budget of about ten trillion dollars. Also much of what is classified as military spending could probably be moved to other categories - the VA, for example.
- kranke155 4y ago
  Wow. Imagine the Manhattan Projects you could make with ten trillion!
  - artificial 4y ago
    The Manhattan Project began modestly in 1939, but grew to employ more than 130,000 people and cost nearly US$2 billion (equivalent to about $23 billion in 2020). We're nearing $100 billion with Ukraine. $31 billion to California EDD (unemployment) fraud.
thestevesie 4y ago
Its large compared to other similar countries. So why doesn't the US just spend that money so we can be more like X trendy country I heard about on Y blog/podcast that is a fraction of the size of the US and does "EVERYTHING" better? Well, the case is that they have more money to spend because the US is subsidizing their military. So many of these countries are able to get away with tiny military budgets because of the US's large military budget. (all of those countries are also unrecoverably in decline)
- PartiallyTyped 4y ago
  the US does not subsidise other countries, not to the degree that you think anyways. It’s also not a matter of spending more money. The US spends a lot more per capita on healthcare than everyone else, so money is not the issue.
  - pas 4y ago
    not really, US healthcare spending is average for US income. (the problem is the distribution of that income) https://randomcriticalanalysis.com/2020/02/13/its-still-not-the-health-care-prices-2017-edition/#rcatoc-modest-price-to-income-ratios-and-high-costs-are-perfectly-compatible https://randomcriticalanalysis.com/2020/02/13/its-still-not-...
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - kneebonian 4y ago
    It may not be direct subsidiaries but I'd be willing to wager a pretty penny that there are a lot of European countries that feel comfortable with spending little on defense and aren't worrying about Russia because they know the US has their back. Not to mention keeping Taiwan from being brought under the CCP umbrella, the efforts the US Navy puts into preventing and reducing piracy. In fact most of the world that doesn't worry about imminent invasion from it's neighbors doesn't worry mostly because the US has provided almost global security by virtue of having the largest most capable military on the planet. I won't pretend it is perfect or that we have global peace but like during Pax Romana although they were still squabbling with the Sassinids, the average person's risk of dying as a result of military conflict is very small when compared historically, especially since almost every military action in the past half century has been not between modern nation states but between guerrilla and partisan forces which results in considerably less damage in life and property than a full scale conflict between two capable actors as the Iran Iraq war proves.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
jwilk 4y ago
Why 7?
karaterobot 4y ago
A lot of military spending is disguised (not to say maliciously) as funding to other agencies. For example, that number is probably just the Pentagon's budget, and wouldn't include things like Veterans Affairs (which is about $300 billion) or foreign aid (around $50 billion) or the Department of Homeland Security (around $50 billion) or our nuclear force ($35 billion), etc. Even some of NASA's funding is for monitoring nukes. The point is that it's actually kind of hard to calculate how much we spend on defense, because it's hard to know what to count, but it's certainly more than it looks like. Over $1 trillion is a safe guess.
WillPostForFood 4y ago
When talking about spending, some people exclude programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, income security programs from their list of spending because it doesn't need to be approved every year - it is classified as 'Mandatory Spending' and is 63% of the budget. The remaining spending, has to be approved every year is classified as 'Discretionary Spending'. When you just look at discretionary spending, the military budget is the biggest piece. But if someone says the US spends most of its budget on military spending, it is false and deceptive.
zmgsabst 4y ago
Are you expecting a source better than the US treasury to appear? An unfortunate reality of the US is that policy discussion is almost wholly disconnected from quantified reality: we’re not even arguing about facts, anymore. If we started examining facts, the populace would become aware that the US pays more for less than other “developed” nations — largely due to corruption in healthcare, construction, and manufacturing (eg, military).

bombcar 4y ago

US military spending is HUGE compared to other countries budgets. It is not that big compared to the US budget - in WW2 we spent about 45% of GDP on military stuff - if that was done today we'd have a budget of about ten trillion dollars. Also much of what is classified as military spending could probably be moved to other categories - the VA, for example.

kranke155 4y ago
Wow. Imagine the Manhattan Projects you could make with ten trillion!
- artificial 4y ago
  The Manhattan Project began modestly in 1939, but grew to employ more than 130,000 people and cost nearly US$2 billion (equivalent to about $23 billion in 2020). We're nearing $100 billion with Ukraine. $31 billion to California EDD (unemployment) fraud.

thestevesie 4y ago

Its large compared to other similar countries. So why doesn't the US just spend that money so we can be more like X trendy country I heard about on Y blog/podcast that is a fraction of the size of the US and does "EVERYTHING" better? Well, the case is that they have more money to spend because the US is subsidizing their military. So many of these countries are able to get away with tiny military budgets because of the US's large military budget. (all of those countries are also unrecoverably in decline)

PartiallyTyped 4y ago
the US does not subsidise other countries, not to the degree that you think anyways. It’s also not a matter of spending more money. The US spends a lot more per capita on healthcare than everyone else, so money is not the issue.
- pas 4y ago
  not really, US healthcare spending is average for US income. (the problem is the distribution of that income) https://randomcriticalanalysis.com/2020/02/13/its-still-not-the-health-care-prices-2017-edition/#rcatoc-modest-price-to-income-ratios-and-high-costs-are-perfectly-compatible https://randomcriticalanalysis.com/2020/02/13/its-still-not-...
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- kneebonian 4y ago
  It may not be direct subsidiaries but I'd be willing to wager a pretty penny that there are a lot of European countries that feel comfortable with spending little on defense and aren't worrying about Russia because they know the US has their back. Not to mention keeping Taiwan from being brought under the CCP umbrella, the efforts the US Navy puts into preventing and reducing piracy. In fact most of the world that doesn't worry about imminent invasion from it's neighbors doesn't worry mostly because the US has provided almost global security by virtue of having the largest most capable military on the planet. I won't pretend it is perfect or that we have global peace but like during Pax Romana although they were still squabbling with the Sassinids, the average person's risk of dying as a result of military conflict is very small when compared historically, especially since almost every military action in the past half century has been not between modern nation states but between guerrilla and partisan forces which results in considerably less damage in life and property than a full scale conflict between two capable actors as the Iran Iraq war proves.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]

jwilk 4y ago

Why 7?

karaterobot 4y ago

A lot of military spending is disguised (not to say maliciously) as funding to other agencies. For example, that number is probably just the Pentagon's budget, and wouldn't include things like Veterans Affairs (which is about $300 billion) or foreign aid (around $50 billion) or the Department of Homeland Security (around $50 billion) or our nuclear force ($35 billion), etc. Even some of NASA's funding is for monitoring nukes. The point is that it's actually kind of hard to calculate how much we spend on defense, because it's hard to know what to count, but it's certainly more than it looks like. Over $1 trillion is a safe guess.

WillPostForFood 4y ago

When talking about spending, some people exclude programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, income security programs from their list of spending because it doesn't need to be approved every year - it is classified as 'Mandatory Spending' and is 63% of the budget. The remaining spending, has to be approved every year is classified as 'Discretionary Spending'. When you just look at discretionary spending, the military budget is the biggest piece. But if someone says the US spends most of its budget on military spending, it is false and deceptive.

zmgsabst 4y ago

Are you expecting a source better than the US treasury to appear? An unfortunate reality of the US is that policy discussion is almost wholly disconnected from quantified reality: we’re not even arguing about facts, anymore. If we started examining facts, the populace would become aware that the US pays more for less than other “developed” nations — largely due to corruption in healthcare, construction, and manufacturing (eg, military).