There are many good reasons why we should have a military and continue to spend money on defense in order to make sure that the United States has the best in the world—there is little debate over that. However, there is much discussion and debate on how much we should spend on it. But, do we really need to spend as much as we do?
The US currently spends around 700 billion dollars on its armed forces, which is the most in the world. We have, by far, the highest amount of spending, as the country in second place, China, spends only around 250 billion dollars. Like in all issues, the reality is much more complicated than what it seems. This country spends 3.42 percent of its GDP (Gross Domestic Product) on its military, which actually is not the highest. Several countries spend a large portion of their GDP than us, which include Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Lebonon, Israel, Russia, Colombia, and more. Saying that the fact that our GDP is by far the highest is not enough to justify a reduction in the military budget, since we also have by far the largest economy. Therefore, proportionately speaking, the US military budget is not extremely high.
Still, like mentioned earlier, in terms of monetary amounts, the US spends much more than necessary. The US’s military spending accounts for 37 percent of all the countries in the world. This country spends more than double than China, a country that some consider to be an adversary, or at least a major geopolitical rival. Russia only spends around 61 billion dollars. In other words, we spend more than ten times more than Russia on the military. The US spends more than China, Russia and Iran combined. Militarily, we already outmatch our rivals. It would probably take a decade for China to realistically reach us in military spending. Also, most countries with large military budgets are our allies, like France, Saudi Arabia, U.K., Germany, Japan and South Korea, and therefore countries we need not fear nearly as much.
Unfortunately, it is really hard to reduce our spending on the military when we are currently involved in numerous conflicts around the world. We have military bases and troops stationed in many countries around the world, such as our NATO allies, Japan, South Korea, and in the Middle East. Some of it is definitely necessary, but much is not, especially in the Middle East.
For the past two decades, we have been spending trillions of dollars in the Middle East on mostly unnecessary wars. Afghanistan was the only one with a just cause, but now the war has been dragging on for so long, many in both parties are now questioning whether we should stay there at all. We still have troops in Iraq since the Iraq War. We have many troops and military bases in the Gulf countries. There are more than 60,000 US troops stationed in the middle east. There needs to be gradually and slow withdrawal of these troops—taking out all 60,000 at once would be too hasty and might have unintended consequences. The U.S. also needs to reduce its military presence in almost every country it protects. We mainly protect rich countries, such as Germany, Japan and the Persian Gulf countries, that should the means to defend themselves.
Reducing spending will not give the government so much money that it can pay for a single payer health system, free college, or a Green New Deal. It will, however, give the government extra money to spend on education—which is badly needed, for infrastructure investment, or just for countless other benefits that Americans can truly benefit from.
Article by Justin LaFontaine of Walter Johnson High School
Graphic by Katherine Hua of Robert Frost Middle School