Where the Money Goes
More In-Depth Essays
Numbers from The Borgen Project: 416 billion dollars. The amount the United States is currently spending on the military departments each year. 165 billion dollars. The amount of money the United States is currently spending on defense contracts each year. 105.5 billion dollars. The amount of money annually that is projected to be able to end global problems. This includes eliminating hunger and malnutrition, providing shelter for people, removing land mines and nuclear weapons, providing relief for refugees and safe clean drinking water for the world, eliminating soil erosion, and doing away with illiteracy (numbers based on budget with 10 years needed for success). 475.5 billion dollars. The amount of money that would be left for the United States to spend annually on military departments and defense contracts after spending the 105.5 billion needed to end these problems (1).
Where exactly does this 416 billion dollars go? Most of it is headed toward the ballistic missile defense program, which gets more funding than any other weapon system in the Pentagon’s budget. Another good portion of the money goes toward shipbuilding. The United States plans on obtaining and supporting nine ships in 2005 instead of the seven that it had in 2004. These include a nuclear attack submarine, three destroyers, and one new surface combatant. Along with these ships the Pentagon also plans on spending money on aircraft as well. The Air Force and Navy will each get new aircraft for a combined total of 77 new pieces of equipment. Finally, the pentagon will spend money giving a pay raise to all of the military bases. All in all, this accounts the money being spent in military departments. This, however, does not include money spent in the area of nuclear weapons and research, and it does not include the funding for the ongoing operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Each of these areas adds to the total, driving it higher and higher (2).
http://www.sinodefence.com/navy/sub/091.asp
The problem with all of this is that most of it is completely unnecessary. While national security and defense is important, the amount of money being put into it is completely ridiculous. 416 billion dollars. Why the need to spend this much? I have not heard anything in the news recently about the United Sates suffering because of a severe lack of ships and aircraft. The United States is not in great need of another nuclear submarine. The United States has a missile defense system, and while this does need to be maintained, a new program does not need to be purchased. The fact is that the United States already has most of the technology that it is spending its military money on. For example the ships. There are seven, they want nine. What difference will two ships really make in the long run? The fact is that money spent on the military is not being spent wisely and could be put to better use.
The way I see it, the military is supposed to ensure peace for our nation. It is supposed to protect us from other nations as well as promoting peace in the world. It seems like in recent years the way that the Pentagon had tried to go about doing this is by using intimidation. Building the biggest, strongest, most powerful armed forces in the world. Striking fear in any nation that would dare mess with the almighty USA. This, however, can have an adverse effect on things. This technique will only make the United States appear to be the “bully” of the world only making other countries even more angered by the flexing of our muscle.
Instead of intimidating, the United States should be educating. Instead of investing so much money in defense, why not put some in other areas. Why not try to help solve problems like hunger, shelter, and illiteracy. This will only help make the rest of the world a more peaceful place. As the president of the world bank, James Wolfensohn, said in an interview with USA Today, "If you really want to deal with peace, you have to deal with education in the countries that are in conflict."
Another area of consequence, is the spending on nuclear weapons. I don’t understand the point of this. We already have some nuclear weapons. Why do we need more? I remember in grade school my friends and I would hear things from the real world and make up our own stories about them in school. One day someone had heard about nuclear weapons. He said, “I heard Russia has enough bombs to blow up the world six times. But we have enough bombs to blow up the world 30 times.” As exaggerated as it sounds, it is not far from the truth. My question is why do we need that many? Wouldn’t once be enough? After “blowing up the world” once, why the need to do it again? This does not make sense to me to even have nuclear weapons. As soon as someone launches one, every other country that has any at all will launch theirs and the world would be over. If people survived the blasts, they would eventually be killed by all the radiation that would be emitted. Why spend money on something that can only lead to the end of the world?
416 billion dollars. The amount the United States is currently spending on the military departments each year. A good majority of this 416 billion dollars is being spent on superfluous desires where that much money is not needed. This amount of money would be much better spent on things like education, which would help the world move forward promoting a more peaceful environment for everyone.
2. "CDI - Center for Defense Information." The Center for Defense Information. 20 Oct 2004. <www.cdi.org>.