Spending

Getting political. Feel free to ignore this one. No running, or Karate, or bikes at all.


1   USA                698.105billion
2   China               114
3   France               61.285
4   UK                    57.424
5   Russia               52.586
6   Japan                51.42
7   Germany          46.848
8   Saudi Arabia    39.2
9   Italy                 38.303
10 India               36.03
11 Brazil             27.12    
12 Australia        26.9
13 S Korea         26.55
14 Spain             25.507
15 Canada          21.8       
16 Israel            16
17 UAE             15.749
18 Turkey         15.634
19 Netherlands 11.604
20 Afghanistan 11.6


The above is a list of the top 20 countries in the world in terms of military spending in billions of dollars.

Back in the 1800s Britain was the premier world power. They had a policy that they would always keep their Navy powerful enough to match the second and third greatest powers should conflict ever occur. Perhaps the US should adopt something like this.

Clearly from the above chart they are overspending. In fact, if you add up all the others in the top 20, their total comes to 695.56, which is less than the USA's 698.195. You may also notice that Israel and Afghanistan are top-spending countries, too. A big part of their war chest is provided as "aid" from the USA.

Let's lower the USA from first place at 698.195 down to 175.285. This would match the spending of China and France combined. The USA would still be the number one super power by far.

This single act would cut US government spending by 15% without laying a glove on Social Security, Health Care, or Veterans Benefits.

Madness, you say? What about all the defence workers thrown out of work?

OK, if you're so worried about the resulting massive unemployment how about this? Don't cut spending. Take it from the military and spend it on things that actually generate wealth. In the 1950s and early 1960s the government spent its surpluses on things like building the freeway system. Remember rural electrification in the 1930s?

Take your pick.