A new report from Brown University's Costs of War project, shared exclusively with Popular Information, reveals how decades of enormous military spending have reshaped the federal government and the U.S. economy. Today, more than half of all discretionary spending is spent on defense, military personnel make up the majority of federal government employees, and private military contractors are a leading force in the U.S. economy. Meanwhile, "investments in infrastructure, healthcare, education, and emergency preparedness" have been crowded out.
Defense spending is our socialism. An acceptable way to redistribute wealth, in the name of patriotism. There are so many Americans living well off the defense budget that it will be nearly impossible to curtail.
I want to see pols with spines banding together to take this on. Enough is enough. The spending we know about is bad enough, but when you’re talking about subcontractors paying sub-subcontractors, it’s basically a guarantee that our tax dollars are going into the hands of truly awful people, doing truly unspeakable things.
The war profiteers have turned themselves into the job engines in far too many parts of the country. This gives them immunity from the necessary cuts that are long overdue. But it would take a Congress with courage to tell them that the party is over unless they find ways to convert their manufacturing capacity from unnecessary hardware that nobody wants (not even the Ukrainians), planes that can't fly in the rain, and ships that cannot perform their mission because their systems are so complex they can't stay running to products and processes the country and the world need to combat climate change, reduce dependence on fossil fuels, infrastructure, etc. This is not impossible. In WWII hundreds of factories turned on a dime and went from washing machines to shell casings. Conversion to meet strategic goals can and should go both ways.
“Since 2015, the U.S. has added more than $300 billion to its annual defense spending. That is equivalent to the annual cost of providing universal pre-K for 3 and 4-year-olds, 2 years of free community college for high school graduates, and health insurance for uninsured Americans — combined. “
And it's worth noting that the Pentagon has failed consecutive audits since, including one last year where they failed to account for $4.1T of $7T under review.... that's "T" for trillion:
I love hearing the Purchasing Power argument, that even though we spend 3-4x China on our military it's effectively equal because they get so much more bang for their buck. This may be true, but it only underscores the corruption, waste, and inefficiency of our defense industry. There is no sane argument that writing more blank checks will improve these dynamics. The Purchasing Power argument should be a five-alarm wake-up call to clean up the fraud and abuse in the defense space.
However, I researched and wrote papers on this in grad school years ago, yours is an update. This is not news! Only the amounts have increased, the idea and the money and the purpose have not changed, they have just become acceptably more and more obscene in my humble opinion.
One should wonder what it would take to create the needed fundamental shift in perspective to put We the People back on more even terms with the military behemoth. Imagine how a redirection of even 1% of funds could impact so many other things that matter arguably more. Our current formula is putting us on track to be the next, big 3rd world country.
I spent years of my 23 year career on active duty in weapn system acquisition. The most glaring and current example of waste is the F-35. This huge waste of money lacks enough cooling air for the avionics but not to worry a new engine will "solve" that at a cost of billions. The F-14 was delivered with an undered power engine whic c
I live in Milwaukee WI. In terms of how we spend our $ our budget is a mini-me version of the U.S. The greatest funding is going to the people carrying lethal weapons and with the keys to the prisons.
What is interesting about this piece, is that we KNOW that if big investments were made in free education and or universal healthcare for all the scrutiny would be off the charts and folks would be yelling about system abuse.
For historical context, I highly recommend How to Hide an Empire by: Daniel Immerwahr. A great read on how US military, commercial and cultural forces dominate the world.
Judd, how right you are that the numbers are startling. You could delve further into the contractors and subcontractors and other entities that reap the benefits. With luck, MSM may pick up on this and broaden the scope. I’m grateful for your hard work, your sticking to facts with little partisan sway, and your ear to your readers.
please keep up the reporting, this is the most urgent and depressing story among many. It's also dangerous, we're destabilizing ourselves domestically and mass killing our own citizens from lack of investment on the chance we might have a foreign war, which becomes more likely the more you need to justify a trillion dollars in annual expense
Defense spending is our socialism. An acceptable way to redistribute wealth, in the name of patriotism. There are so many Americans living well off the defense budget that it will be nearly impossible to curtail.
I want to see pols with spines banding together to take this on. Enough is enough. The spending we know about is bad enough, but when you’re talking about subcontractors paying sub-subcontractors, it’s basically a guarantee that our tax dollars are going into the hands of truly awful people, doing truly unspeakable things.
The war profiteers have turned themselves into the job engines in far too many parts of the country. This gives them immunity from the necessary cuts that are long overdue. But it would take a Congress with courage to tell them that the party is over unless they find ways to convert their manufacturing capacity from unnecessary hardware that nobody wants (not even the Ukrainians), planes that can't fly in the rain, and ships that cannot perform their mission because their systems are so complex they can't stay running to products and processes the country and the world need to combat climate change, reduce dependence on fossil fuels, infrastructure, etc. This is not impossible. In WWII hundreds of factories turned on a dime and went from washing machines to shell casings. Conversion to meet strategic goals can and should go both ways.
Life would be so much better with more socialism for the sake of the people instead of more socialism to industry for the sake of the profits!
signed Capt Obvious
These statements below say it all:
“Since 2015, the U.S. has added more than $300 billion to its annual defense spending. That is equivalent to the annual cost of providing universal pre-K for 3 and 4-year-olds, 2 years of free community college for high school graduates, and health insurance for uninsured Americans — combined. “
Great article! I'm still not over this 2020 report showing a "$35 trillion accounting black hole" at the Pentagon:
https://www.yahoo.com/video/pentagon-35-trillion-accounting-black-231154593.html
And it's worth noting that the Pentagon has failed consecutive audits since, including one last year where they failed to account for $4.1T of $7T under review.... that's "T" for trillion:
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2022/11/22/why-cant-the-dod-get-its-financial-house-in-order/
I love hearing the Purchasing Power argument, that even though we spend 3-4x China on our military it's effectively equal because they get so much more bang for their buck. This may be true, but it only underscores the corruption, waste, and inefficiency of our defense industry. There is no sane argument that writing more blank checks will improve these dynamics. The Purchasing Power argument should be a five-alarm wake-up call to clean up the fraud and abuse in the defense space.
Excellent revelations!
However, I researched and wrote papers on this in grad school years ago, yours is an update. This is not news! Only the amounts have increased, the idea and the money and the purpose have not changed, they have just become acceptably more and more obscene in my humble opinion.
One should wonder what it would take to create the needed fundamental shift in perspective to put We the People back on more even terms with the military behemoth. Imagine how a redirection of even 1% of funds could impact so many other things that matter arguably more. Our current formula is putting us on track to be the next, big 3rd world country.
I spent years of my 23 year career on active duty in weapn system acquisition. The most glaring and current example of waste is the F-35. This huge waste of money lacks enough cooling air for the avionics but not to worry a new engine will "solve" that at a cost of billions. The F-14 was delivered with an undered power engine whic c
I live in Milwaukee WI. In terms of how we spend our $ our budget is a mini-me version of the U.S. The greatest funding is going to the people carrying lethal weapons and with the keys to the prisons.
What is interesting about this piece, is that we KNOW that if big investments were made in free education and or universal healthcare for all the scrutiny would be off the charts and folks would be yelling about system abuse.
What greater danger than a military complex that has all the money and all the weapons and unlimited political support? What could possibly go wrong?
For historical context, I highly recommend How to Hide an Empire by: Daniel Immerwahr. A great read on how US military, commercial and cultural forces dominate the world.
Judd, how right you are that the numbers are startling. You could delve further into the contractors and subcontractors and other entities that reap the benefits. With luck, MSM may pick up on this and broaden the scope. I’m grateful for your hard work, your sticking to facts with little partisan sway, and your ear to your readers.
Just a minor edit - It's Northrop Grumman not Northrup Grummond.
please keep up the reporting, this is the most urgent and depressing story among many. It's also dangerous, we're destabilizing ourselves domestically and mass killing our own citizens from lack of investment on the chance we might have a foreign war, which becomes more likely the more you need to justify a trillion dollars in annual expense