Should the US cut military spending?

[OtterMan68]

The US spends FAR more on its military than the next three counties.

Country
Total Military Spending 2022
United States $811.6B
China $298B
India $81B
Saudi Arabia $73B
Russia $72B
United Kingdom $70B
Germany $57.8B
France $57B
Japan $53.9B
South Korea $49.6B

Yes, taxpayers pay for a lot of waste and to be the world's police

No, the US has to have a huge military to keep the US and the world safe and provide jobs in weapons manufacturing and at military bases

not sure/other

[WindAtMyBack]

No, if anything they should spend more.

1) That pie chart is very deceiving. It was obviously made by someone with a bias against military spending. It's "lying with statistics". That chart is only discretionary spending, which is only about a third of the federal budget, and even smaller portion of all government spending.

2) I don't know how other countries do their accounting, but the US military budget contains a LOT that is not military.

3) The military is the biggest and best social welfare program.

4) The military is the biggest and best education system. They run a bunch of full universities, several specialized graduate schools, and a whole slew of trade schools and other type of training. Military trained people work in virtually every type of civilian jobs. They are well trained and make great employees.

5) They do a tremendous amount of engineering, design and research. You are using one of those things right now - the Internet.

6) The original country didn't have a central government at all. No congress, no president, no supreme court, no military - nothing. Creating a military was a major driving force behind creating a central government. The military was, and is, one of the biggest reasons for the existence of the federal government.

7) Last but not least. Virtually all military spending goes to pay people to work.

[Siri137]

The very same could be said about any large, bloated government bureaucracy!

[KostasKouvalis]

They should decrease offense spending and only invest in defense spending

[Siri137]

Yes, cut it to the bone, starting with the incompetent bureaucracy at the top who promote "woke" causes. Then abolish the USMC, scrap most of the navy, and terminate the F-35 and F-22 fighter programmes. Close down Area 51 and all other secret bases. Close ALL military bases that aren't actually within the U. S. Stop funding Israel.

[Zer0kay]

So since conflict with hostile groups is inevitable because they don't give a crap about your opinion your saying you'd prefer to carpet bomb as opposed to GPS targeted strikes? You like killing civilians? Your a sick person. Oh there we go you side with terrorist organizations so treating civilians is acceptable to you.

[Siri137]

@Zer0kay What? How the hell did you read THAT into what I wrote here? Since you approve of "GPS targeted strikes" you must enjoy killing full stop (I'm saying here we should desist from killing anyone, unless it's purely and entirely in self-defence). But you obviously side with the armaments companies that enjoy killing for a profit.

[Zer0kay]

No I choose to be accurate and kill only what needs to be killed while producing the minimum amount of civilian casualties. Hamas and by extension the people who elected them into a political office and choose to rebel against the Israelis rather than the terrorist organization that uses them as shields prefer to cause as much civilian casualties as possible. If you choose Palastine and Hamas over GPS bombs you prefer indiscriminate killing. It isn't about money. I get nothing from anything and live in a fucking mobile home. I'm for national security and allowing terrorist organizations to exist results in 9/11 but you probably weren't old enough to live through that. A soldier dreams of peace a terrorist dreams of glory. Peace would be awesome but as long as people lay claim to thi is and take things from others there will be violence and at the nation level that is war. So until there are no wars I choose to co ti ue our current military doctrine. Find them, contained violence, over. As opposed to identify the city, indiscriminate violence, look for more.

[DrPepper12]

Reagan was an asshole and promised to "spend the USSR into the ground" and he did. All those new jobs never went away cuz Congress is a bunch of cowards to lose jobs in their district and then the wars if choice and war on terrorism occurred and here we are. Fuck Reagan. And for you Brits, fuck thatcher too. Damn fan girl.

[OtterMan68]

And the Military Industrial complex made sure to put weapons manufacturing and weapons manufacturing supply chains in all 50 states.
Often the Pentagon wants to get rid of a weapons system or close a base, but congress says no

[Anonymous]

No. I think we need a strong military. I think we need to stop giving all these other countries money. Stop getting us involved in other countries affairs. These countries need to handle their own issues. Stop sending our troops to fight other countries’ wars. All these politicians who are making hundreds of thousands of dollars should take a cut in pay. I know war isn’t always a good thing in most people’s eyes, which hopefully we don’t ever have to go to war again. But it’s better to have it than not have it at all.

[strateguy632]

precisely, OBAMA gave HUNDREDS of millions in federal aid... to many cuntries including kenya (his birthplace?).
was charity good?
not when you have GIANT debt. at the time 9 trillion. in obama two terms he managed to DOUBLE the debt! to 17 trillion. worst president since truman dnc... but only until biden. biden administration even worse than obama. and that is saying something!

[Anonymous]

I mean I want to say yes. But the REALITY is we are the world's LONE SUPERPOWER. And as uncle Ben will tell you, "with great power comes great responsibility".😆 The truth is the United States has many enemies always waiting to pounce simply for the fact that we exist. So our military spending is kind of necessary.

Not to mention that much like the Healthcare industry it is also economically necessary. There are a lot of companies that keep the wheels of Capitalism greased off of fat gov't contracts. Sorry, it's just reality.

[Zer0kay]

You mean countries? Also it is more shocking to say the U. S. spends more money than the next 7 highest nations... combined! And I would say no absolutely not. It is our military might that has allowed us to live this well relatively unscathed. If we weren't so well equipped the horrible FUBAR of Bidens retreat from Afiganistan would have been far worse. If we weren't so well equipped other nations when we do go to war would be devastated. Consider Iraqs civilian casualties to WWII Germany's. Should we go back to indiscriminate carpet bombing?

[handsomelad70]

First of all, U. S. military spending is about $850,000,000,000, NOT $600,000,000,000. Secondly, slash it by three-quarters and work on repairing the schools, infrastructure, health care system and other aspects of life citizens of other First World countries take for granted.

[strateguy632]

communist WANT u s. t spend less on military, so they can take ukraine and poland and alaska.

also the ones chanting death to america.

the real problem is the OTHER spending by democrats on less important stuff... then they say "none left for medicare we need to raise taxes!"

instead of cut spending the blame republcans who lowered taxes!

but if i only earn minimum wage i should LIMIT my spending. same for a country.

[SotiCoto]

The United States don't speak for the rest of the world, whether they want to believe themselves in charge or not.
But since they're spending all that money on the damned military, the very least they could do is start a war with China and actually put it to use.

[AngryCarl]

The US needs to maintain an overwhelmingly powerful military to maintain the petrodollar. If they didn't have the World's Reserve Currency they could not maintain their astronomical debt. The US would go broke and collapse overnight. This is the path Nixon chose for the country in the 1970s and it's too late to go back.

[strateguy632]

that is realy just nonsense.
in regan time debt was a wopping 3 trillion. so regan CUT spending.
but obama managed to spend 3 time that in just 2 terms 8 years.

[AngryCarl]

@strateguy632 The last President to balance the budget was Clinton, but that didn't wipe out the debt already outstanding. EVERY President since then has run a deficit.

[exitseven]

We should stop spending money on foreign wars we have no stake in, that is where the real waste is.

[msc545]

Agreed.

[DextroShade]

I don't see why we need to be world police and get involved in every other countries wars when we are broke and being invaded. All that money should go to our borders and infrastructure.

[Anonymous]

No, the US should maintain its spending on its military, but it could do with gutting out ALL of the DIE bullshit, it would save a significant amount.

[OtterMan68]

how much do they spend on DIE?

[Opinion Owner]

“The FY 2024 the DoD’s commitment to DEI and includes $114.7 million for dedicated diversity and inclusion activities,”

[OtterMan68]

out of $585 billion. That would save money but about.05%

[Opinion Owner]

Its not just the financial cost, but the way it is affecting the moral of troops, it is not something on which a monetary value can be placed, also consider the amount of value of the experience being lost in the number of troops resigning or not re-uping at the end of their current tour. by the time you add up those losses it will outstrip that one line in the financial report.

[msc545]

Most of the mopney spent on the military is just payoffs to defense industry executives.

[Anonymous]

You don't really want answers. You just want people to agree with you.

[OtterMan68]

I want to hear opinions and have debates

[Anonymous]

Anyone who actually thinks it would be a good idea for the US to cut military spending is incredibly naive.

[OtterMan68]

why does the US need to spend that much more than every other country?

[Opinion Owner]

Because no other country will. The US is the peacekeeper of the world. Without its strong military the world would belong to the likes of China, Russia, N Korea and Iran.

[Paul09]

We only need armies because all countries are controlled by weak minded overgrown toddlers.

[RedInnocent69]

Probably, but it’s a way of subsidizing industry.

[NathanDavis]

it would cost a lot more if they didn't

[OtterMan68]

how so?

[NathanDavis]

the cheapest way to control and influence as much as the USA needs to do so... is through the military

[NathanDavis]

and the USA just won't quit this advantage... would have the need to compensate in other ways, which, are more pricey

[OtterMan68]

does the US really need to bully other countries?

[NathanDavis]

would you really want them bullying you instead?

[NathanDavis]

many other governments do bully their own people... USA prefers to bully others, first

[OtterMan68]

so if we don't outspend every other country by far, other countries would send their troops over here to bully us?

[NathanDavis]

no, that's not how it works...

think of the Pacific... if the USA didn't have a presence there, China would impose their influence

it's like a game of checkers... but you do check on every base with your tokens, if the USA leaves one place... China, Russia or others will have theirs

so the USA is not only spending but they're investing

[OtterMan68]

so if we were not in combat zones in Syria and Iraq, Russia and China would move in? Russia is already aligned with Syria's gov.
If they want to spend billions in foreign countries' civil wars, more power to them. Let them go bankrupt doing it. Better them than us

[NathanDavis]

China is already all over Africa... and other places

what you're not understanding is that... the more conflict on these zones erupts, the easier it is to get their resources out

[OtterMan68]

so oil for example is easier to get out of conflict zones?

[NathanDavis]

oil and everything else, crops, herbs, minerals, wood... and you can also bring your companies in

[OtterMan68]

www.thebalancemoney.com/current-us-discretionary-federal-budget-and-spending-3306308

[OtterMan68]

so if the US doesn't use economic imperialism, other countries would.
I don't see that as a convincing argument for a budget that is greater than the next 7 countries combined

[NathanDavis]

you don't need to be convinced...

China is already doing this over Africa

another thing you have to understand that... budget and spending from the government does not entirely cover the economy of a country nor reflects their true financial reach

private investments are the key

[OtterMan68]

and how is the US worse off for China working with African countries?
I keep hearing people on the right complain about foreign aid all the time.
China isn't sending troops to war zones in Africa.

[NathanDavis]

again... resources

the USA is all about two things, capitalism and consumerism

the USA economy would run a lot more expensive than it is now, without the control of cheaper resources