Why the U.S. Military Spends So Much Money

The Pentagon Spent Over $900 Billion Last Year, Here’s How…

The US spends more on its military than any other country in the world. But where does all the money really go?

Special thanks to:
- Dr. Heidi Peltier, Senior Researcher at the Watson Institute, Brown University. Director of the Costs of War Project
- Dr. William Hartung, Senior Research Fellow at the Quincy Institute
- David Cortright, Professor Emeritus University of Notre Dame, Visitor Scholar at Cornell University

-- VIDEO CHAPTERS --
00:00 Intro
02:14 The Budget, Mapped
14:26 Meet the Contractors
24:04 Are We Safer?
27:58 Credits

About:
Johnny Harris is an Emmy-winning independent journalist and contributor to the New York Times. Based in Washington, DC, Harris reports on interesting trends and stories domestically and around the globe, publishing to his audience of over 5 million on Youtube. Harris produced and hosted the twice Emmy-nominated series Borders for Vox Media. His visual style blends motion graphics with cinematic videography to create content that explains complex issues in relatable ways.

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[greenhackercom]

In other countries its called corruption, in the US its called lobbying.

[theanonymouschicken]

With 190 Billion in R&D. Every year, and you telling me they still haven’t built iron man suits or Gundams.

[expandedhistory]

Free healthcare? You spelled Hellfire Missile wrong, triple the defense budget.

[thndr_]

The fact a single rocket dropped will cost more than my taxes for my entire lifetime is insane

[Nath_Ay_]

The fact that the us government can find out if you owe 1 dollar in taxes but fail to ensure efficient spending is out of this world worsened by the fact that since 9/11 they've had no reason to engage in any warfare thats 13 yrs of $800B unnecessary spendings

[RafaelW]

"Why does the US spend so much on its military?"
In before Johnny changes the title 99 times.

[bluecup]

I love how an app called "Rocket Money" chose to sponsor a video trying to figure out what does the US military spend its money on.

[ronschellhas]

What really pisses me off as a combat wounded Airborne veteran, is why some of this graft isn't put into the Veterans Administration? Too often, when I need a service, I have to wait months to get into a community care facility, while I'm getting sicker and sicker!! I have prostate cancer from Agent Orange, severe PTSD and a whole list of other related ailments. I'm 75 now and my heart is causing me many problems but try as he may, my cardiologist can't get approval to work on my heart!! WTF?? I could rant on for hours about this shit! And NEVER would I have to lie and blame any of it on "bone spurs"!

[scalan]

When I served, I was told at the end of every fiscal year, every unit has to use all of their money, because if they don't then the next year, they will lose their budget.

[SApilot]

Ain't called the "military industrial complex" for nothing

[Oodaloopshooter]

I used to work on jets in the Marine Corps. Every time the jets went out flying, they'd come back with several screws missing. It's not uncommon to have to replace 15 screws after every flight. What blew my mind was seeing how much each screw cost the Marine Corps. $55 dollars PER SCREW. $55 for a screw that you could get a whole box of from your local hardware store. THATS why the DoD spends an insane amount of money.

[arslanahmed]

And this is WHY JFK was killed
1) No Military Industrial Complex
2) Register AIPAC as foreign agent
3) Common Sense... honesty... leadership

[DmnHomie]

I owed $16 to the IRS and they tracked me down very easily to pay it off plus a fine. What a joke this country is.

[GhostAssault]

Imagine how much more military we would get for the same amount of money if the defense contractors didn't overcharge.

[karlwatson]

The crazy thing is the US government has been able to convinced it's citizens that it's perfectly acceptable to spend this much money on its military/weapons while not having a public health service and having it's own citizens die or go bankrupt when they get sick.

[mattedwards]

For a country that is under zero threat of invasion, the US sure spends a lot of money on "defense"

[destinsather]

I was an Aviation Logistics Specialist in the US Navy from 2008-2012. I oversaw all the aircraft parts that USMC and Navy squadrons were using on my base. Simple Boxes with a few wires and a switch cost $127, 000.00 ... Not to mention $70 screws and nuts. It's absolutely unbelievable the amount of waste these big companies and politicians in their pockets do to destroy our country.

[gravel]

Remember, Johnny is not suicidal and would not kill himself

[darkmatter]

"Spending" on military is the best way to launder money. Lawmakers get their pocket money, arms manufacturers get their steady profit from tax payers. It's really just business. I hope they can cut the part where they pretend they really care about national security and all of that.

[abhishekdwivedi]

Defence budget that's a whole ass offence budget 😂