Monday, April 26, 2010
The United States spends more than $1 trillion a year on national defense, argues George C. Wilson of Congress Daily—an amount that seems ridiculous considering the nature of the enemy.
Total spending on America’s security goes far beyond the Department of Defense’s yearly budget, currently at about $550 billion. There also is the $160 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; $122 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs; $65.3 billion for defense-related international affairs;; $43.6 billion for the Department of Homeland Security; $26 billion on defense-related expenses by the Department of the Treasury; nearly $19 billion spent by the Department of Energy for nuclear weaponry; $7.6 billion on miscellaneous accounts related to the common defense; and $53.4 billion for just the interest on the Pentagon’s healthcare fund and defense portion of the national debt.
All told, the U.S. “is spending more than $1 trillion a year on national defense despite fighting only two little wars against enemies with no ships, warplanes or tanks,” writes Wilson.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Rational Defense (by George C. Wilson, Congress Daily)
Comments