Politics: US Military Spending

How much do you think the US spends on its military?

How much should the US spend on its military?

Below are three graphs that show how much the US actually spent on its armed forces in recent history.

The first graph goes all the way back to 1930.  As you can see, there was the huge spike in the 1940s during World War II.  American truly transitioned into a war economy at one point having 42% of all economic activity devoted to the military. 

The second graph shows the period from 1950 to 1980.  One can note the peak in the 1950s probably due to the Korean War and the Cold War with the USSR.  In the 50s, routinely 10% or more of the US economy was dedicated to military spending.  President Eisenhower warned of the military-industrial complex.  And indeed, since then, the USA has not spent near the levels of the early 50s.

In the 60s, America fought in Vietnam and kept a strong military for the ongoing Cold War.  8 1/2 to 11 cents of every dollar in the US was placed toward defense spending.

In the 70s, the Vietnam War ended for America (last troops out in 1973; Saigon fell in 1975) and various peace movements and anti-nuclear weapons protests were felt by the politicians such that spending on the military fell from 9% of GDP down to 5.5%.

The third graph picks up the statistics from 1980 to current times.  Rhetorically, people called the Reagan military build up massive.  Indeed, it rose from 6% to 7% of GDP and was sustained for a handful of years but it was hardly massive (see the first graph above and note the relatively shallow upward hump in the graph for the 1980s).  Also, put in historical perspective, the levels of military spending during the Reagan years were less than typical spending in the 1950s and 1960s. 

With the fall of the Iron Curtain in the 1990s, defense spending fell all the way down to 3.5% of GDP.  But alas, America was snapped back into the hard reality of the ways of the world when September 11, 2001 changed the landscape.  Defense spending rose up to 6% of GDP while fighting raged in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The US has pulled out of Iraq and is reducing its commitment in Afghanistan; thus, spending on defense will decline once again.

Question:  how much should America be spending on its military?

The reality is that when something terrible happens in the world, whose phone is going to ring?

Indeed, the phone in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue rings and POTUS (Democrat or Republican) will answer and have to decide whether or not US armed forces will be sent.  The budget and strategy mapped out in the next couple of years will determine what kind of capability and numbers POTUS can call upon to respond to a crisis.