The massive amount of military spending the United States government takes part in should be no surprise to anyone. In fact, the US alone spent about 700 billion dollars on military spending in 2016. To put that into perspective, that is more than the next 14 countries in the world combined. Also take in mind these next 14 countries together hold the vast majority of population in the world, while the US holds a small amount. So why does the United States spend so much on our military?
The answer is a very complex one, but if I were to make it short and vague, I would say that the majority of military spending is actually a way to buy influence. The threat of invasion or a full out total war is not the reason that the United States buys the best the world has to offer in defense. In reality our military is an extension of our credit in more ways than one. Credit in the monetary sense, where our currency and the value of our credit is backed by the largest military in the world, but also credit in the sense that it is very valuable to be one of our allies.
Our military is a roundabout way to signal to the world that messing with us economically or militarily is a bad idea and if all else fails, we can use brute force to get what we want. This might sound harsh, but it isn’t necessarily a bad thing in terms of what is best for a country. It very well may be that investing in our military has an economic benefit that is greater than investing into other areas. There of course is diminishing marginal returns for everything, so perhaps we are spending a large amount of excess, but some might argue we wouldn’t be in the economic position we are without the influence we have.
In a world where wars are being fought less in the grand scheme of things, there is still a very good use case for having a large and powerful military. Having a large military signals to the world that not only do we have internal stability but external stability in the way we influence our allies and enemies. Nations might give favor to us, not because they like us , but because they realize that we are a force to be reckoned with. Having the highest military spending in the world helps open doors to us that might have been otherwise inaccessible.
The best criticism of the military is probably how much extra spending is enough, but at the same time it is really hard to calculate the benefit each of us is getting. It is okay to not support the military, but there really is a broader reason it benefits the average citizen other than just plain protection. In an ever increasingly international world, influence perhaps is the most important commodity. Having the largest military not only increases our influence with the world, but increases our interests financially as well.
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To have the most advanced military in the world you need to spend on it! And America does! Money well spent when you ave the likes on North Korea making statements! So in my view from the here in the UK its a good thing! My country is not doing this!
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This makes a lot of sense. I am not pro violence or pro war, but a superpower like the US needs to maintain that position in any way it can. My country gets aid from the US, as well as many third world countries. While there are a lot of noise in both mainstream and non-traditional media about the defense spending of the US, nobody complains about the aids. If the US loses its position as superpower, the aids will for sure stop.
While there's noise about the US policing the world, there is nobody presenting an alternative, or claims that the world does not need policing. The UN simply do not have the means to do this . A lot of my countrymen will not like what I said here, but I will say it anyway. We need the US to stay a superpower, or we run the risk of being bullied by many others.
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The spending by the U.S. Government is completely out of control.
Plus, why not spend into oblivion cause the system is not going to collapse until they are ready for it to collapse. So, like you said...they can and need to spend to continue that influence and the need to maintain control.
The question is when it does all come down, how are they going to maintain thay DOD if people are not getting paid and support has eroded!?!
Upvoted & ReSteemed...
Thank you for the post.
Great stuff!
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So the reason I actually wrote this article is I was thinking about how we borrow money and in reality, people will continue to lend us money even if we dont pay it back, if we lean on them to do so. Think of it as a type of extortion.
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Oh I understand that. I also look at countries like China that buy our Bonds (Debt) and then turn them around and build these Ghost cities and roads, The 'New Silk Road', etc. This is China using that Debt to their advantage and using that debt to get ready for a new monetary system that may place constraints on their money spending. I would say its more about the money then it is about the military. Not to say anything bad about what you just wrote about. I enjoyed it and it was great stuff. I think the military is used more for overthrowing those countries that do not have Central Banks so that we can place a new government and Central Bank within that country (Lyba, Syria, Iraq). The military is more of a tool used by the elite and the elite are just using the debt by the strongest government i.e. The Untied States. Link below is more of what I am talking about:
https://steemit.com/steem/@revelationquotes/no-central-banks-in-a-few-countries-around-the-world
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Eventually, Every Bully gets his day of judgment. Just as every prize fighter that doesn't know when to quit gets knocked out. 1 Person willing to attack when the time is right could be enough, or no one person can stand up to a organized group with the will/spirit do get the job done despite the martial arts movies saying they could. Every Golliath has his David, it's all just a matter of time.
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"It very well may be that investing in our military has an economic benefit that is greater than investing into other areas." I had to stop reading at that point. I'm sorry. I really wanted to read the whole thing, but the smell of bullshit was just so noxious that I couldn't continue.
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Im strictly talking about economic benefit, if we want to look at humanitarian benefit, of course there are better ways to spend it. I actually think we should cut our military budget by a decent amount, im actually trying to play devils advocate in this article. That being said, there is a chance that investing into our military has real tangible benefits that we cant see.
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Our bloated millitary budget only provides economic benefit to defense contractors and stock-holders. I'm a veteran. I saw more waste, fraud, and abuse in 3 years than I have seen in decades of employment and entrepreneurship in the civilian world. Think about it. They spent a trillion dollars on a fighter jet that doesn't even fly.
I was mechanized infantry. I drove a 113 Armored Personnel Carrier and a Bradley Fighting Vehicle. Having spent years in both, I can tell you that the movie "The Pentagon Wars" gives a pretty accurate account of how our tax money is being spent. Not having to spend another minute in that crowded death-trap was a reason many of my friends decided not to re-enlist.
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i think u.s miltary is the part of war always reason the weapon compnies earen from wars and many weapon compnies from u.s @calaber24p
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This amount of spending is absurd. The gov't is printing money and devaluing the USD. This will have consequences eventually.
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Completely
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Devaluing money is part of the reason why perhaps spending so much now is a good idea. Pay off the debt with an inflated currency.
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It's funny that eg. NASA got only less then 20 billion in 2017. If only they could exchange this values...
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The US army is used by various 'interests' as a kind of empire 'towing' service. When the money lenders who lend money to entire nations want to get their money back, they can't go and 'tow away' the nations as they would do with a car for which the loan isn't being paid - so they use the US military for that role.
There is also an entire network of paranoid and emotionally dysfunctional people running the military, which furthers the agenda of those who want to use it to spy on and control everyone else.
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Because, they always be on attack
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good post, i made a similar one four days ago, peace
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Does the chart look any better if it's dollars per square mile?
I'm grasping here (Russia and Canada are going to suffer with this chart)
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Because 'MERICA!
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With the dollar as the world reserve currency, the USA has more economic influence on the world than the economic influence of the US Army has. I think the real question is what will happen with the army when the economic soft power of the USA declines and shifts to East Asia. Will the US Army try to protect it's economic interest in the world, by using the real 'hard power' of the US Army?
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the best citizen is the love and want to make part of his country miltary soldier
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Please follow me back @abraham01 thanks
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I like this short concise perspective on the US military. It really is complex and Influence does matter, look how freaked out the US got during the cold war when Cuba was trading with Russia.
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We could provide free Healthcare for everyone if we backed off on the military spending. Congress is owned by Special Interest. Great topic.
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This power is good only if aliens attack to earth or some crazy governments start threatening.
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It is about the money. Here is a thought, America is in the thralls of a heroin epidemic. Ask a simple question where is most of the world's heroin cultivated? Afghanistan. How does the heroin get from Afghanistan to the middle of fly over country in America? Who has the ability to carry, protect, distribute the heroin and eventually launder the money? Some farmer in Afghanistan? Or can you think of any organization with planes, guns, airstrips and easy access to Afghanistan and the United States? It is for economic gain but not for the nation but rather deep state actors. Ever notice that large banks get caught laundering drug money and no one ever goes to prison only a fine? It's the money, that's my story and I am sticking with it.
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They want to make their force the best!
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To govern by intimidation and you raise some good points here thanks @calaber24p
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