Monday, September 6, 2010
The cost of weapons
US decreasing spending on new weapons, cutting military costs including personnel cuts, internal cost-cutting redirect money to the war in Afghanistan. After a decade of ever-rising defence spending, “the gusher has been turned off”; now his greatest fear is that defence spending will be cut to curb the budget deficit. Europe cutting defence spending too and China rising in economic strength: concern for west?The beginnings of a sound policy today, he argues, might be for America to withdraw from a costly war in Afghanistan and pull forces out of Europe. But what about those who look to US for military aid? Military as a part of spreading American influence has led us to an influx of commitments. Military goals now are to become better at fighting insurgencies; to preserve enough might to protect allies from, say, North Korean aggression or Chinese hegemony; and also to maintain “all options” for dealing with Iran’s nuclear programme. That means finding new money within constrained budgets. Costs for increacing weapons, military innovations, and training and highering personnel are too high to build up military.
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4 comments:
is it time to start considering the costs for military power?
are traditional the traditional forms of military outdated in today's world?
The United States may be reallocating the money which they spend on governmental defense systems to focus more on a competing economic side. The article may scare some as they think that the US is not going to be able to protect themselves and others in the same way they have been doing sine there is going to be a budget cut however, once looking at the statistics, the United States has spent the most out of any other two nations combined on their defense budget. In 2009, the United States made up 46% of the worlds total military expenditure. The next leading country was China with 6.6 precent of the worlds spending. Once this information is attained, one can relax at the fact that reducing defense spending is not the worst thing that can happen as the US will continue to lead the world in defense spending even if they cut their spending in half.
I agree with Phillip that the U.S. can afford to relax its defense spending given that it spends nearly as much as all other countries combined. However, I am concerned that Secretary Gates's call for a decrease in defense expenditures will not be approved by Congress due to the jobs the current defense spending creates in many districts.
As for those who rely on the U.S. for military aid, it is impractical and inefficient for the U.S. to provide protection for countries like those in Europe which can afford to give their people social security and health care (which millions of Americans still lack) because America is footing the bill for Europe's military security. I think it is safe to say that Germany is no longer the threat it was 70 years ago, so we should consider reallocating some of the 60,000 troops we have stationed there.
I also agree that cutting US military spending is not something to be feared. As Phillip said, the US has the largest defense budget in the world. We cannot afford to be the world's policemen forever and while at this moment in time there is no state prepared to take on that role, eventually someone else will have to. Cutting defense spending will allow the US to spend money in other equally important areas such as education and infrastructure. While national defense is important, so is taking care of the country and the people who live here.
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