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Military Spending, the Reason for the Economic Crises

This article touches upon what many people aren’t aware of, and that is our crazy military spending. Read what our government is doing with our military, and what we could solve if someone simply stepped in and changed the military policies.

There are two main additions I’d like to cover in my plan. The first is increasing the amount of money towards improving old and worn out gear. The United States military receives money every year toward resets that are aimed at keeping our heroes safe. However our military always needs more than they are funded. I believe that before we invest time and money into future technologies, we should make sure that our current troops are getting the recourses they need. The next proposal would be to increase the amount of money we have in research development. I think in order to advance, the people who run our military need to be futurists. I think that there should be an increase in the production of unmanned aircrafts, and to do so, there needs to be more research in this premature area of study. I believe that our future has room for robotics to take away the human element much more than they do now. Weapons in space that can shoot down enemy missiles are another technology that comes to mind. Instead of researching technologies that seem irrelevant towards our nation’s problems, such as a vessel that can destroy anything in its path, why don’t be realistic with ourselves and develop technologies we will actually use regularly, and are cost effective.

If I were the president, one effort I’d try to make is to form some form of global arms treaty. In this treaty there would be some sort of agreement that military spending would be slowed down among all countries involved. I think there should be an effort to try and meet with the top ten highest spending countries and discuss military spending. A committee would have to be formed with a representative from every country to oversee military spending by every country involved. I think many countries would be glad to reduce their spending if the United States were to also. I think a treaty like this could solve many problems around the world. Although I feel it is a bit of a stretch, I would love to see how other countries responded to it. In theory it seems as though everyone would be in the same strategic situation.

In conclusion, I believe our nation is witnessing the same problem generations before mine had. It is clear that military spending isn’t going to budge soon because there are so many political issues involved. With our current economic status, it’s clear that our beautiful nation needs to cut military spending and look into what could be solved. The numbers behind our nations military spending is startling, and it seems as though these numbers could be getting worse. It is time someone stepped up on a national level to let the majority know what is really going on. Until then, we are going to have to live without solving our priorities. As congresswoman Marsha Blackburn once said, “Government does not have a revenue problem; government has a spending problem. Government does not have a revenue problem; government has a priority problem. It is time that we begin to fine tune our focus and decide what the priority of government ought to be” (Marsha Blackburn Quotes 1).

Works Cited

Friends Committee on National Legislation – A Quaker Lobby in the Public Interest. Mar. 2006. Washington Newsletter. 27 Mar. 2009 .

Hellman, Christopher, and Travis Sharp. “Total Iraq and Afghanistan Supplemental War Funding To Date.” Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. 23 July 2008. 29 Apr. 2009 .

Labonte, Marc, and Mindy Levit. “Financing Issues and Economic Effects of American Wars.” Federation of American Scientists. 29 July 2008. Federation of American Scientists. 3 Apr. 2009 .

“Marsha Blackburn Quotes.” Famous Quotes and Quotations at BrainyQuote. 2009. BrainyQuote. 28 Apr. 2009 .

“Military budget highlights – Los Angeles Times.” Los Angeles Times – News from Los Angeles, California and the World. 25 Apr. 2009. Los Angeles Times. 27 Apr. 2009 .

“NRDC: Nuclear Data – Table of US Nuclear Warheads, 1945-2002.” NRDC: Natural Resources Defense Council – The Earth’s Best Defense. 25 Nov. 2002. 29 Apr. 2009 .

“Recent trends in military expenditure.” SIPRI Internet. 2008. Oxford University. 29 Apr. 2009 .

Sharp, Travis, and Christopher Hellman. “The FY 2009 Pentagon Spending Request – Global Military Spending.” Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. 22 Feb. 2008. 4 Apr. 2009 .

Sharp, Travis. “Foreign Policy: The Worst Kind of Stimulus.” Foreign Policy – the global magazine of economics, politics, and ideas. Mar. 2009. 26 Apr. 2009 .

Silverberg, David. “Brookings Institution.” Brookings – Quality. Independence. Impact. 8 July 1998. Brookings. 29 Apr. 2009 .

“The state of human development.” 1996. 27 Mar. 2009 . chapter 1, page 37

Zakaria, Fareed. “Is Robert Gates A Genius?” Newsweek 20 Apr. 2009: 1-2.

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  1. Anon

    On June 28, 2009 at 2:46 pm


    The US spends about 2% of it’s budget on the military. Somebody find out how much we’ve spent on bailouts… oh wait, that’s more than we’ve spent on the military in our entire history.

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