Americas Defense Budget Is Too Small

It’s common knowledge that the United States has by far the largest military budget in the world, you often hear the phrase “America spends more on their military than the next nine countries combined.” which is as impressive as it is controversial. When discussing the military budget, it’s often surrounded by talks of reducing it or spending the money on other projects. And that controversy is completely valid with the US military budget consuming approximately half of all discretionary federal spending the country would benefit from many of the wasteful programs being cut and corruption being stamped out. The US Department of Defense is the only Federal agency unable to pass an independent audit 30 years after Congress required it to do so. So it’s entirely reasonable to question why nearly $800 billion is spent on defense.

Written by: Chris Cappy & Justin Taylor
Edited by: Savvy Studios

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Let’s talk about some raw numbers first. The American Department of Defense received a fiscal year 2023 budget of $797 billion, 6.8 billion above what was requested for the fiscal year, and 69 billion more than the fiscal year 2022 budget. Currently the American military has about 2.1 million members in uniform, 1.328 million of those being active duty service members, and the remaining 800,000 serving in the reserves, or national guard. This makes the United States by far the largest gross spender on defense, but only 3rd in terms of military size, with India and China both having larger standing armies, so why are we spending so much more if other countries seem to have no problem spending so much less on more troops?

Task & Purpose is a military news and culture oriented channel. We want to foster discussion about the defense industry.

#USA #WAR #EXPLORE

[gebeme]

I work for a branch of government, and I am constantly shocked by how much money I see us throw in the trash every year. I can't imagine what military spending/waste looks like.

[mwhendricks]

As a USAF contracting officer, one area that is significantly underrated is money as a weapon system. When it comes to expeditionary locations, DLA can provide a decent amount of equipment, but that’s not sustainable. We’re writing contracts with locals to support and build the base. That makes friends. Locals want us to stay because we give them good business. And we get access to products and services quickly, without paying massive shipping fees or spending effort on logistical planning.

[bobprivate]

It's also worth pointing out that not all countries report the same programs as being "defense." For example, in the US both the Coast Guard and the National Guard fall under the heading of defense, but Russia categorizes their equivalents as "internal security" budget.

[gooner]

The $'s spent on veterans is absolutely not only is it the right thing to do, not only does it look good to the outside World, it also helps with personnel retention as potential recruits will look and see how well they would be treated if they got injured, it would also look after you with the pension.

[SoloRenegade]

$17k in infantry equipment isn't actually all that bad actually, when you consider the M4, optic, night vision, gas mask, and many other items.

[bigmeek]

The biggest thing I dislike about “America spends so much more then everyone” is it assumes expenditures are the same. A dollar goes a lot farther in other countries. When you account for this difference, America spends about as much as Russia and China combined. Which makes sense, because they build their military to fight a two front war against… Russia and China

[firefighterc]

My Army Engineer unit built three schools in Belize years ago. I also know of units that built hangers for the Jamaican military, and projects in Panama, Columbia, etc. That expeditionary nature of our armed forces does more than most civilians ever realize.

[fredbrewer]

At one time in my Navy career, I did supply for our unit in addition to my regular duties. I needed a sheet of plexiglass to cover a display because we had problems with items walking off. When I went to supply the price was quite high so I checked around and could get the same product for 1/4th the price at a local hardware store. I called the number the Navy gives to file an enquiry and after several months I received a letter stating the price was justified because the plexiglass had to meet certain standards for use in aircraft. I am not aware of any aircraft that uses a 3x6 sheet of plexiglass but by that time I had given up on the argument.

[migs]

Consistenly hitting hard topics and delivering awareness to the global and American ear.

[chadwickciampo]

68 nuclear submarines?...I feel like we are missing a huge opportunity here.

[rasamerlock]

Very good episode; and you make great episodes. I'm in College hard core pushing almost 50..and this is extremely palatable and easy to process. Keep up the good work.

[robertkurschat]

Dang, I just watched three of your videos back to back to back and MAN are they good. I've always enjoyed your content, but the details you're able to provide are phenomenal.

[johnsimmons]

Here’s an example of why Defense is so expensive. During the Falklands war I worked in the paint industry. My company got a order for grey paint. If I remember correctly, The usual specification for paint is for it to dry to the touch in 30 minutes and hard dry in 2hour.

For retail paint ( what you or I would use) the error for these dry times is plus or minus 5 minutes.

For MOD paint the error is something like plus or minus 5 seconds. To meet this standard takes an inordinate amount of effort and so greatly increases the cost of Military paint.

[Thor_Asgard_]

Sadly much of that huge budget is lost due to missmanagement and companies just doing insane overpricing and time delays on purpose.

[jakelilevjen]

My dad was giving a tour of a facility to some foreign officers. One area was loud and there were airmen going about their duties wearing hearing protection. One foreign officer later commented to my dad that he wished his country cared so much about their soldiers that they even protected their ears.

[Walterwaltraud]

One of your best videos, perfect as an intro to many political science classes, not just in English speaking country. Pretty objective, light hearted, doesn't dodge tough subjects - good job. Correction, great job.

[peterwaugh]

I went to the US once & have never forgotten a bumper sticker I saw. "Freedom is not free"

[kyledabearsfan]

I honestly appreciate your videos and your service. Your videos are well written and articulated! And I appreciate the transparency in which you present your topics. You try to avoid bias but state any that you know you have. Bless keep up the incredible work!

[kaoskronostyche]

Thanks for clearing that up. Seriously, I found it very interesting to see the budgets and expenditures explained like this.

[georgepalmer]

I've heard it said on the internet that the abilities of pilots are just as important as the capabilities of their aircraft. That means our pilots have to get countless hours of training in the aircraft. Those hours are expensive. It costs over $50, 000 an hour to fly an F22. But like they say, "There is nothing more expensive than a second best air force".