A lot can be learned by examining what each nation spends on military pursuit.
Is America the bully of the world or merely projecting a great sense of insecurity? Is the military-industrial complex so aptly described by President Eisenhower gained control of government for its profit and forcing our nation to be hawkish? Are these dirty old men in public office, most of which never served in the military pushing our country into unnecessary wars and engaging us in unwanted conflicts and even lying to get us there? Are these men just merely projecting a penile deficiency or too fucking dumb to realize that spending so much on the military is counterproductive?
All of these questions can and should be posed to these politicians and to the general public. We can’t sustain the level of militarism we have had for the past century…that is abundantly clear. If we are to survive as a nation we have to redirect most of that military spending into domestic endeavors like education, roads, clean energy and an expansion and solidification of our social programs so that nobody in our country goes without food, shelter or medical attention.
Posted: 11/29/11
Howard Steven Friedman works as a statistician and health economist for the United Nations and teaches at Columbia University. In addition to following him on Twitter at howardsfriedman you can also sign up to his Facebook fan page Howard Steven Friedman.
He has been a lead modeler on a number of key United Nations projects including the ICPD @ 15 Costing, High Level Task Force on Innovative Financing, and the Adding It Up reports. He is credited with being the lead developer of the tool used for costing the health-related Millennium Development Goals. He is also an adjunct professor at School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.
Prior to joining the United Nations, Howard ran Analytic Solutions LLC, which provides consulting services in designing, developing and modeling data. This work also included teaching data mining and modeling techniques for major international corporations and foreign governments. Prior to that, he was a Director at Capital One, where he led teams
5 Countries with the Highest Military Expenditure
“How much a country spends on its military budget is a reflection of a number of factors, including the size of the economy, the perceived military threat or opportunity, the influence of the private sector on government policy and the overall priorities of a society.
When we look at the absolute spending amount, the United States is by far the largest spender. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Yearbook 2011, America spent nearly $700 billion in 2010. This accounts for about 43% of the entire global military spending and is nearly 6 times more than the amount spent by the next largest, China. In fact, the United States spends more on its military than the total spent by the second largest (China), third largest (United Kingdom), fourth largest (France), fifth largest (Russia)... and fifteenth largest (Turkey) combined.”
“So, while in absolute dollar amount the United States is an extreme outlier regarding its military spending, it is more appropriate to examine the normalized spending since comparing the absolute amount each country spends on its military another isn't very fair. After all, we would certainly expect that a large country with one of the world's largest economies like the Russian Federation would spend more than a small country like Lithuania. But what is the most appropriate way to normalize the spending?
If we look at the military expenditure per capita, we can control for differences in population between different countries. In this comparison we see once again that the United States is an outlier, spending an average of over $2,000 per person versus a global average that is about one-tenth that amount. Among the top 15 countries with the highest military expenditure, only two other countries had more than $1,000 per person spent on military, Saudi Arabia and Australia.
If we chose to normalize by the size of the economy, rather than size of the population, we continue to see that the United States is an outlier. America spends 4.8% of its GDP on the military or about double the global average. In fact, Saudi Arabia is the only country in the top 15 for military expenditure that has a higher percent of its GDP dedicated to the military.
It is clear by any measure that America spends much more on its military than other countries. American military expenses have dramatically increased in the last decade due to the wars with the budget for defense more than twice what it spent in 2000 and about 20 percent of its entire federal budget.
America's military strength is critical for its stability and success in the future but there is a balance. A nation can't spend all its resources on one aspect of society and ignore the others. A nation cannot spend all its resources on the elderly and not attend to the next generation. A nation cannot spend nearly all its resources on a small percent of the population and ignore the vast majority.
Will the failure of the super committee really lead to a significant cut in the massive military budget? It's well past time for politicians to take an honest look at the numbers and find the right balance.”
#5 Russian Federation
Russia for example spends about $59 Billion on military expenses, less than 10% of what the United States spends. Russia spends more on military than most other countries on both a per capita basis ($410) and as a percent of GDP (4.0%).
I for one like most people, have repulsion to war and the violence it brings. Let’s face it; war is a dirty business and ugly as hell. I always question the fact that money spent on building a bomb that would blow someone’s legs off would not be better spent and have a more beneficial effect if it was spent on education or healthcare.
Why don’t we become a little more realistic about our situation? We have a very large segment of the population that is dirt poor, some even go to bed hungry in the land of plenty. Can we continue to entertain foreign wars and exorbitant military expenditures and let our poor starve all for the sake of the military industrial complex?
Is it necessary for us to defend countries that have no adversaries and could easily afford their own defense? Is conventional war and obsolete weapons in line with the realities of present day conflicts where boots on the ground not only makes little difference but works against the intended result by making America the occupiers.
It beckons the question: Was our involvement in Iraq worth the benefits derived from controlling the oil in view of the fact that we lost over 4,000 of our brave young men and women? I do think that war is only justified when a country is attacked and it has to defend itself.
http://www.propagandamatrix.com/articles/march2006/100306orderchaos.htm
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