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Reflecting our Values
Just a few facts…
In 2009 the Pentagon’s base military budget was $518 billion + an extra $130 billion for Iraq & Afghanistan = $648 billion for 2009 alone.
Earlier this month President Obama signed the Military Defense Authorization bill for 2010 raising the Pentagon’s base military budget to $550 billion + another $130 billion for Iraq & Afghanistan = $680 billion for 2010.
(If you’re keeping tally, that’s $1.3 trillion in defense spending for a two year time span.)
The United States has consistently ranked #1 in military expenditures and 2009 is no different… we will outspend the next 15 countries combined. Meaning, if you take the military expenditures of China, Russia, Britain, France, Japan, Germany, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, India, Brazil, Italy, Australia, Canada, Indonesia, and The Netherlands and put them all together, we spent more. (An interesting note: 12 of the 15 countries in that list are our allies.) In fact, the United States accounts for 47% of the entire world’s military spending… and if you’re worried about North Korea or Iran, well, we outspent them at a pace of 72 to 1. And just for some perspective: China (ranked number 2 on the list) spent only $89.4 billion on their military… or 5.8% of the world military spending.
Sound like overkill?
In 2008, 21% of every dollar paid in taxes went to the defense budget. (That number is sure to rise as the 2009 budget gets reconciled and all the numbers come in.) Meaning if your family makes $60,000/year this is what your portion looks like…
(ht: Rortybomb)
I’ve long found the excessive amount of money we spend as a nation on military expenditures ridiculous, especially considering how poorly we take care of our soldiers (the majority of the money goes to outdated weapons technology that has been earmarked by members of congress for their home state.) But it became a lot more real for me as this past week the Senate unveiled their own version of the Health Care Bill. There has already been a great deal of debate surrounding the bill, and it certainly won’t come to a conclusion in the near future. (Note: The point of this post is not to talk about the merits or lack of merit with the current Health Care Bill because it’s got a long way to go and in the end will look nothing like what it does in its present state… if it passes at all. Rather it’s to look at the discrepancy of our values as a country in how we spend our money.) The greatest amount of argumentation about the Health Care Bill came as the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) unveiled the cost of the bill in its current form: $848 billion over the course of ten years, or roughly $84.8 billion per year (or 12.5% of what we currently spend on our national defense–not our overall budget.)
The screams from fiscal conservatives could be heard all across the country subsequently leading to a quick “no” on health care because of the cost alone in an attempt to quickly stifle debate. However, I’m sure we could squeeze $84.8 billion dollars per year out of the Pentagon’s budget to provide health care for those who cannot afford to pay for health care on their own because of rising premiums (or roughly the equivalent of China’s defense budget…and we’d still be okay on national defense still ranking far and away as #1 in the world with.) That’s $84.8 billion to protect American’s from sickness and disease… $84.8 billion to save lives instead of $84.8 billion to take lives.
When the $680 billion dollar Military Defense Authorization Bill came across the President’s desk, there was hardly a peep on the astronomical cost… it’s nearly 10x greater than the cost of health care… where were the fiscal conservatives on that one? As a country that purportedly stands proud in our value for life, we’ve certainly got a funny way of showing it.
12 Responses to “Reflecting our Values”
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I think what the above is missing is the role of government. A primary responsibility of government is to provide for the defense of it’s citizens. Health care has not been the responsibility of government nor will it improve under the control of government. Government spending less on the military will not keep the country safe or make it safer, and government taking control of, and spending more, on health care will not improve health care.
How then is health care not providing for the defense of its citizens?
Government’s responsibility more clearly defined is the protection of the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness… I would argue that health care is the governments responsibility in that it is providing protection for the life of its citizens against disease, death, malady, etc.
Great post, Aaron. The documentary “Why We Fight” highlights our military-industrial complex, and I think might be just the thing that’s needed to help tip fiscal conservatives over the edge toward a consistent political platform. The fact that conservatives aren’t as irate about agriculture subsidies, commodity tariffs and military spending as they are social service spending helps point out the oft-hypocrisy of their (my) opinions.
But, just because there’s plenty of room to trim the military’s budget doesn’t mean we should replace that with more spending during this most shaky economic chapter in our history.
Government’s responsibility is clearly defined in our Constitution, and the idea of bloating government to provide for additional things such as health care was never an intent of our Founders nor would the Constitution have a place for that kind of governance. But hey, it’s the 21st century … keep your arms and legs in at all times, it’s going to be a wild ride!
big picture? You’re missing it. Protecting this country is first and foremost. You can’t make any moves – right or wrong – without protecting this country. One sided thinking here. Wrong thought process, Aaron. Dead wrong.
How do you protect a country if everyone is sick? With whom do you protect it with?
I believe Aaron proved via the numbers that our priority is overwhelmingly “protecting our country” even though I’d dispute that, given, a nation who lives by the sword will also die by the sword.
However
If a certain percentage of our military budget was used for the good of all (both here at home as well as globally), wouldn’t we as a nation be better off?
Brian Mclaren wrote “Jesus’ good news alerts us to our derangement and dislocation from our true place in God’s world and God’s story. It presents to us a new framing story that Jesus called “the good news of the kingdom of God,” and that, I’ve proposed, we might also call the transforming story of God’s divine peace insurgency, God’s un-terror movement, God’s new global love economy, or God’s sacred ecosystem.”
That’s big picture, and I think Aaron is on to it.
It’s so very sad when we focus on man’s words than God’s.
Mclaren is an educated man, however, educated does not mean bright or well versed.
Big picture, you’ve missed it, he’s missed it, and Aaron has missed it.
It is true that the 3 of us might have “missed it”, but I can’t take your word for it, considering your point flows out of a completely hypocritical statement. Please tell me you already knew this?
What’s so very sad is…
an intelligent thread could be threatened by a classically conservative argument where the issue being discussed is trumped by a vague “God card” in support of your own personal agenda (even when the opposite side of the discussion has referenced Jesus more in support of their idea). How can you make the statement you made and still find yourself reading the “words of men” on this blog, INCLUDING YOUR OWN?
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