Judd Legum1. A few days ago, Congress and Biden approved $858 BILLION in military spending with almost no public discussion or debate.
That's $858,000,000,000
Follow along for FACTS about HOW this money is spent and WHY
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2. More than HALF of all military spending ($452 BILLION) will go to private defense contractors
3. In 2022, the defense industry employed 770 federal lobbyists. That's almost 2 lobbyists for every member of Congress.
In the first three quarters of 2022, the defense industry "spent over $101 million on federal lobbying."
4. In the 2022 cycle, defense industry PACs and executives donated $18.9 million to federal candidates.
The money was spread relatively equally between Republicans ($10.3 million) and Democrats ($8.6 million).
5. Only one House Democrat (@[email protected]) voted against the omnibus bill, citing excessive military spending.
Many Republicans voted against the bill because they thought there was too much spent on domestic priorities and not enough on the military
@[email protected] 6. The S&P 500 index declined 19.4% in 2022.
But Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman each saw their stock price increase in 2022 by more than 35%.
@[email protected] 7. In 2015, United States military spending was $585 billion, more than the next 11 countries combined.
Since then, military spending has increased by $273 billion
@[email protected] 8. The budget of the Pentagon now exceeds "the budgets for the next ten largest cabinet agencies combined." Current defense spending, after adjusting for inflation, "is higher than it was at any point during the Cold War."
@[email protected] 9. While Republicans and some Democrats insist domestic spending is "paid for" w/budget cuts or tax increases, military spending is routinely financed with deficit spending
More details on why we are spending $858 billion on the military next year here:
$858,000,000,000
In 2015, the United States spent $585 billion on its military, more than the next 11 countries combined. Since then, the United States withdrew from Afghanistan, ending its longest-running war. And yet, eight years later, President Biden approved $858 billion in military spending
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11. The absence of a real public debate does not mean there aren't real tradeoffs to this level of defense spending
One percent of the 2023 defense budget is $8.58 billion
That could finance over 1 million public housing units, enough to effectively end homelessness in the US
12. Would the United States be better off with an $850 billion military budget (instead of $858 billion) and much less homelessness? What about increasing compensation for teachers?
These are all legitimate debates. But these debates are not happening.
numbakrunch@juddlegum It's not about the money. It's about the lack of political will.
A good enough fraction of us are convinced that solving this problem is equivalent to helping government moochers who want to steal hardworking taxpayer dollars.
It doesn't help that some of those who need the help aren't white.