The Real Reason Why the United States Is Constantly at War

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Here is everything you need to know about the Military Industrial Complex.

Produced by Beat Productions, LLC and Matt Beat. All images and video by Matt Beat, used under fair use guidelines, or found in the public domain. Music by @ElectricNeedleRoom(Mr. Beat's band) and Dan Henig.

Sources/additional reading and watching:
Why We Fight by Eugene Jarecki
Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire by Chalmers Johnson

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#militaryindustrialcomplex #ushistory #usmilitary

40% of all military spending around the entire world is done by the United States. It spends more money on its military than the next ten countries COMBINED.

Since World War Two, the United States has spent the most money on its military.

And that’s because military spending is one of the few things that tends to be bipartisan, meaning…both Republicans and Democrats in Congress generally are cool with this massive spending, despite one recent poll showing that 35% of Americans say the United States spends TOO MUCH on its military.

So why DOES the United States spend so much on its military?

First of all, because the United States is often the world’s police.

The American military controls around 750 military bases in at least 80 countries around the world. It has troops in as many as 150 countries. Some of these are countries where it has military bases might surprise you. For example, did you know it has a military base in Honduras? Also, did you know it has 120 bases in Japan alone? In recent years, the United States has spent tens of billions of dollars maintaining JUST THOSE MILITARY BASES IN JAPAN. The governments of all these countries where there’s American military bases are mostly cool with it. After all, they’re getting extra security with an American military presence, and often for free. However, as documented in this classic book, Blowback by the late Chalmers Johnson, many of the local residents DON’T want foreign troops in their backyards.

Regardless, for at least 75 years, most of the world has just accepted and even welcomed the fact that the United States is often the world’s police force, the country that seemingly steps in to put out all the fires in the world. Not only that, but it has formal treaties that make it obligated to step for the defense of at least 51 countries around the world.

Others argue that a huge American military budget is necessary to “spread democracy” or “defeat authoritarianism” around the world. Notice how I put those in quotes since often the American government is, in reality, often just preserving authoritarianism and hurting democracy around the world through its military actions. Even others say a huge military budget is needed to counter the growing military threat and aggression of Russia and China. Then again, many argue that the growing military threat and aggression of Russia and China is BECAUSE of American military interventionism around the globe, but ya know…

However, there’s another, much more nefarious, reason why the United States government spends so much gosh darn money on its military, and that’s the military industrial complex.

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[iammrbeat]

I got so worked up in this video that I lost my beard.

How do _you_ feel about the military industrial complex?

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[RandomGameCritic]

One of the most shocking facts that I ever learned is that the Department of Defense not only has the distinction of being the only Government body to never pass a single audit, but in their most recent audit, they were unable to account for a shocking 61% of their assets. People shouldn't be screaming from the rooftops that we could permanently end homelessness and hunger in America almost eighteen times over with the money that we spent on our military in a single year.

People should be screaming from the rooftops that we could permanently end homelessness and hunger almost _ELEVEN_ times over with the money that *_WENT MISSING_* in a single year.

*_Edit:_*_ Okay so I was slightly wrong about this. Huge thanks to the ONE person who explained my mistake without talking down on me and treating me like an idiot. But yes, the pentagon did not lose 61% of its $800 million+ dollar budget in a single year. It actually lost 61% of its combined $3.5 trillion in total assets that it had accumulated over many decades. Out of the 27 areas investigated, only seven of them passed._

[tylerhackner]

Tired of the constant war spending when we could spend it on us

[nasis]

As a vet, I can tell you this money doesn't go to us. It goes to PMCs. The current and last Secretary of Defense took jobs at PMCs after they retired from the military. 😑

[PremierCCGuyMMXVI]

Thank you so much for this Mr. Beat. This video was needed. So many Americans, including my family members, support the military industrial complex. Politicians and corporations are getting rich off our huge military and war.

We can use the military money to help our people yet instead we just continue filling the pockets of politicians.

We really need change in this country. And it all starts at the local level. We need young people to get involved in politics and we need to pass policies such as rank choice voting and ending gerrymandering to elect politicians from neither of the two corporate parties and make real change.

[sydguitar]

It's crazy how when things like universal healthcare and free college tuition are proposed, only thing you hear on the media is "where will that money come from" but when it comes to military spending no one questions it

[HarrisonLehn]

“Free school lunches? Maternity leave? Homelessness? Stronger social safety nets?”
“Nah too expensive”

“$813 Billion for military spending?”
“Not enough let’s make it $840 billion”

[tucobenedicto]

After having been on the inside of the Military Industrial Complex pretty much my whole adult life, I've come to the conclusion that a lot of military spending is both unnecessary and is basically nothing more than a way to distribute money across America via govt spending.

[juanmonge]

When I was in college, I went to a lecture from someone who was stationed at the pentagon. Someone asked: that is a big building. What exactly goes on there? His reply was that the pentagon was just a giant buying operation. There were as many as 150, 000 people whose job was just to buy items. From tanks to bbq grills.

[_JayRamsey_]

I'll never forget learning that it wasn't normal for countries to have military bases all over the planet.

[arleenm]

Thanks Mr. Beat. Just imagine how much infrastructure rebuilding in the US we could have done with all that money spent on the "rebuilding" in Iraq and Afghanistan. Breaks your heart.

[brett.z]

“We’ve got money for wars but can’t feed the poor”

[mikeall]

I was disillusioned as a young officer, when i realized most senior officers cared more about their next promotion than making Afghanistan a better country. That sounds obvious but what shattered my vission if the war was that decisions were made that were detrimental to the overall mission, so that the commanders could look better and get a better shot at climbing rank.

[tylercooper]

My uncle is an architect in the airforce and has been for a long time. He's designed many of the overseas bases and wrote a book on the subject of how much our bases are ruining the local areas. He's a staunch conservative, so the fact he wrote a book on the subject says a lot

Edit: I took his name out of my comment, because I don't trust people in comment sections not to seek him out

[fentanylfrog]

Honestly when faced with such massive systems like the military industrial complex, it's hard to believe that my vote can do anything. I think it's why a lot of people don't engage in politics anymore, because there are political machines too large for us to even comprehend.

[choppergirl]

The fiscal irresponsibility of the US government when it comes to the military has been appalling for as long as I can remember... he's right... 80 years. That Eisenhower warning wasn't enough.

[Did.You.Forget]

Omg what a fantastic transition.

*The Mr. Beat Follicle Complex.*

[Osnapchris]

Please continue to make more videos similar to this topic, it’s so great putting a spotlight on issues like these that don’t get much attention in mainstream media even though these kinds of issues affect EVERYONE.

[pinniped]

One of the takeaways from reading "Duty" by Robert Gates, who served as Defense Secretary under both Presidents Bush and Obama, was his frustration with the military procurement process. Too many in Congress see it more as a jobs program, and that is why they often fund weapons systems that the Pentagon neither needs nor wants, if it means jobs and money for their states and districts. And when there was a move to close some unnecessary military bases, the politics of the situation made it impossible to approach in any kind of rational manner.

I don't know what the answer is, but I certainly became convinced that we could maintain the world's most powerful military forces while spending a lot less money.

(He also argued for spending more on the State Department and diplomacy, noting that preventing war is almost always a lot cheaper -- even in just dollars, let alone lives -- than fighting it. It was a refreshing view from a former Defense Secretary.)

[XY-rhif]

America isn't even a democracy. It's just promoting dictatorship worldwide. An Imperialist nation