Budget, Military Spending, Etc.

We are currently faced with a budget crisis in the United States. The federal budget deficit currently stands at over $1 trillion. That's a lot of money, and it needs to be dealt with somehow. What are the solutions? The Republican leadership in the House is proposing that we slash some $100 billion from the budget this year. The budget cuts proposed by the GOP include, inter alia, cutting off all funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which currently stands at approximately $422 billion, according to several websites. Most of the cuts are with programs like this, programs that account for a pretty small piece of the US budget pie.

There was also a budget plan set out by the Obama administration, which does propose certain cuts to the military (which I will get to shortly) and allows for new spending, but is supposed to cut the deficit out over the next decade. However, as Salon's Joan Walsh points out, this budget will likely never happen in anything resembling what President Obama is proposing

With all of this, there does not appear to be any realistic chance of cutting anything significant from the defense budget. The United States spent over $651 billion on the defense budget in 2009 alone. This, of course, does not include the continuing resolutions that fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as other aspects of "Operation Enduring Freedom" (the War on Terror).

The United States has a defense budget that is several times larger than the next biggest spender, China. China's defense budget is about $98 billion USD, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

So, why don't we cut $100-200 billion out of the military budget? Would this significantly harm out military's readiness? I would argue not. The biggest threat to our military's ability to defend this country is the state of perpetual war that we find ourselves in. With soldiers going on 2, 3, 4 or more tours to Iraq or Afghanistan, we have troops that are tired and having serious physical and emotional health issues. Having volunteered at a crisis hotline, I have spoken to some of the people most deeply disturbed by these wars.

Cutting military spending is not going to make China suddenly decide to to send an invasion fleet to storm Long Beach. The United States military will still have superior weapons systems and a better army with a $500-600 billion dollar budget, all the while starting to get us out from under the control of China who owns much of our debt.

If our military would pull back some and cut spending on worthless weapons programs, we could easily solve the fiscal crisis that we find ourselves in. Rather than cut spending on domestic programs like public broadcasting or home heating assistance, why don't we cut what our country needs the least? That is all.