How much does the U.S spend on military

Official fogures are 370 billion but my guess is 2trillion

The real numbers are way above what they officially release as the military budget. DOD nubmers are a portion of what is spent...money is funnelled through other departments for military use as well. I wouldnt' be suprised if the nubmers were in the trillions.

your official numbers are not current.

For FY05 the budget is 420 billion and the black budget is estimated around 30 billion, So the military budget is around 450 billion. But congress relizes that its to high and is going to cut the budget, I garantee next year (FY06) that it will be under 420 billion, probably around 3 to 6 billion less.

Here's a link if you want to see the comparison between the US military spending and the rest of the world.

www.globalissues.org...

Here's a graph from the site:




Now that's obnoxious!

[edit on 2-2-2005 by deadpresidentz]

I think the military budget is pretty much accurate, what I think is fudged is the Black Budget numbers which I think is much higher then the 30 Billion they claim.

I dont really think they spend $800 on a toliet seat and $200 on a box of nails. Then I suspect that money is funneled into the Black Budget were it is very easy to hide.

Special Forces or black ops, whatever you choose to call it runs around 3.5 percent of the total defense budget. According to MFP-11 spec ops funding is to be kept seperate from general service funding. The funding can only be revised by SecDef. A large portion of the money goes into training and readiness. Covert ops themselves are not as expensive as folks would think.

[edit on 3-2-2005 by Shadow Warrior]

I've seen the graph above used before in another thread and its incorrect. Its two years out of date. For instance it states the UK expenditure is $41.3 in fact for the YR05 its somewhere nearer $58.1 and expected to increase further in YR06

Not when you factor in what % of the total budget it is...

That is the true comparison.

I think its something like 3% of the GDP (or is it the NDP, i forget?)

its bad the the US spends more than other countries, ok fine. Is it also bad that France is so high on the list?

What the hell has France got such a large military budget for? The US mainatins an anti-soviet stockpile, a globally positioned army, is engaged on mulitple fronts, wtf is france doing with such a large budget?

Aiding in a small UN operation in the congo?

The terms are not synonymous. The Green Berets are infact 'Army Special Forces". Even the Army Rangers are sometimes considered special forces.

Coincidentally, I saw that some of the afghanis being trained for their national army were being called 'Rangers".

Gosh, I wonder what portion of the US military budget is in fact the afghan and iraqi and godknowswhoelses military budget?

SMELLY CHEESE AND WINE ?

Might want to consider that the french have colonies and a large military forces.

liberals complain constantly of too much military spending. %60 of the goverment budget is spent on progams like social security, welfare, and medicare. Only %40 is spent on the military and education.

[edit on 5-2-2005 by bushfriend]

So what if you only spend 40% big deal!
The military doesnt need to be your countries main concern.
Haveing a strong military is essential BUT do you really need to operate 12 battle groups?
Thats 6 per side of america.

40%? waa? its only about 17%(of our gdp), 13% goes to health and education, 4% on military.

we spend far more on health and education than anyone else overall.

we only spend about 1.3% more on military than our european allies, china and many others spend more than we do.

and what does our cbg's have to do with this? we had 12 cbg's and a slightly larger military under clinton when we spent less than everyone(% of gdp wise).

[edit on 6-2-2005 by namehere]

Thats good then, it shows you care about your citizens..

That is to be expected..
[quote[
we only spend about 1.3% more on military than our european allies, china and many others spend more than we do.

Yes we do, because not all of the 12 are out at sea at the same time. They are used in rotations. So really there are only 4 per side of America. That means if there is a conflict, we can send one or two groups to the hotspot and still have two or three in reserve or on patroles.

Having a strong military is our countries main concern. It is one part of our nations superpower status. It also helps our economy by giving millions of jobs to soldiers, and supporting billions to the coompanies that make our hardware.

Our military give us the clear and decisive advantage against any enemy, and that is worth the price we pay (which is no where near 40% BTW).

Yeah, but why the hell dont you guys stop going out and getting into the hotspots!

Well it should be first to look after thier citizens not to make them the most heavily armed!
Yeah, but the cost of it on the US tax payer is crazy, i mean why do you need super fighters 20 years in advance of the nearest competitor?

And why does the US need to be a super power?

Against WHAT enemies is what we are all getting at...
The chinese present no danger if left alone, dealing with terrorists does not require the use of a carrier battle group!

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When you total the appropriations funneled through all the different departments, you're looking at trillions.

...and the important question is not how much, but "Where is it going?"

International private security firms, mercenaries and defense contractors get most of the money. Our soldiers are left without armor or air cover, and their families live on food stamps. Contractors manipulate public opinion by saying soldiers need support, then redirect the cash to private contracts.



Mercenary Firms and War Profiteers 1
Mercenary Firms and War Profiteers 2

Executive Outcomes: A new kind of army for privatized global warfare

Dogs Of War Inc. - A $300 Billion Dollar Business

Privatizing War - How affairs of state are outsourced to corporations beyond public control



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