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Financial Basis of US Militarism, War, and the Drift to Fascism

Comment by Larry Ross, July 11, 2005

The figures below help explain why the US is becoming evermore militaristic, engaging in more wars and talking of an ideology of perpetual war, and engaging in illegal wars like Iraq based on deceiving the American public, why the US seems to be aiming for global empire, why the US has over 6,000 military bases including 700 foreign bases, why Bush lowered the threshold for use of nuclear weapons, and why Bush is abandoning international disarmament treaties. The figures also help explain the Pentagon's incredibly evil proposals, such as "Operation Northwoods" (see 9/11 Questions), and present US foreign policy .

Can you imagine that in a time of peace at the end of the cold war, with the US recognised as the only superpower, the US military takes 68 cents of every tax dollar for defence, as against only 32 cents on everything else. And it's not enough, they want more.

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Two-Thirds On Defense

Jurgen Brauer and Nicholas Anglewicz, June 10, 2005

Jurgen Brauer is a professor of economics at Augusta State University in Augusta, Georgia. Nicholas Anglewicz is an MBA student there.

Many Americans believe that 19 cents on defense for every 81 cents on non-defense is a reasonable way to spend a tax dollar. But by another calculation, the tax dollar splits 68 cents for defense and 32 cents on everything else. It is a common misconception that U.S. defense expenditure is equivalent to the Department of Defense outlays. Instead of $436.4 billion of defense expenditure, as Congressional budgeteers count, government statisticians in the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) counted $548.0 billion for calendar year 2004—a whopping $112 billion difference. And by our own calculations, U.S. defense expenditure is much higher than even the BEA's numbers suggest, namely $765.6 billion in calendar year 2004—about $330 billion or 75 percent more than the Department of Defense outlays.

To account for the difference, one needs to recognize that, for example, nuclear weapons-related outlays are budgeted under the Department of Energy line item, not that of the Department of Defense. Likewise, Veterans Affairs has its own department and budget. It is a defense-related category, reflecting obligations incurred to American servicemen and women on account of past U.S. military activity. Picking through the budget, the BEA, housed in the Department of Commerce, reclassifies each line item into "defense" and "non-defense" categories. For calendar year 2004, national defense outlays thus amounted to the aforementioned $548.0 billion.      Full article