Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Military Spending in proposed FY 2012 budget

The President says we can find some savings in our military spending.  Let's take a look at the White House proposed FY 2012 spending related to defense:



43.2
Billion for the Department of Homeland Security
553
Billion for the base budget of the Department of Defense (War Department)
11
Billion I estimate is given to the (classified) National Intelligence Program budget.
114.7
Billion for military activity in Afghanistan and Iraq (excluding Department of State spending in these areas of the “Overseas Contingency Operations”)
61.8
Billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs
11.8
Billion to the Department of Energy for “Nation’s Nuclear Weapons Arsenal”
795.5
Total spending related to military and security from foreign threats included in proposed FY 2012 White House budget

Yes, with nearly 800 billion spent on protecting us from foreign threats, it does seem likely to me that we could reduce this spending.  Here is my proposed military budget:

36
Billion for the Department of Homeland Security
450
Billion for the base budget of the Department of Defense (War Department)
11
Billion I would give give to the (classified) National Intelligence Program budget.
40
Billion for military activity in Afghanistan and Iraq (excluding Department of State spending in these areas of the “Overseas Contingency Operations”).  I'd be getting us out of Afghanistan much sooner. Put 10 billion of the savings into foreign aid type intervention in Afghanistan.
65
Billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs (increase their budget and do more for the health of our veterans)
8
Billion to the Department of Energy for “Nation’s Nuclear Weapons Arsenal.” I'd spend much of this money to get rid of such weapons.
610
Total spending related to military and security from foreign threats included in proposed FY 2012 White House budget

 There, I've just demonstrated how we can save $185 billion per year in expenditures by reducing our spending on killing people or preparing to kill people. That's over $2 trillion in reductions over the next ten years as our Overseas Contingency Operations and atomic weapon arsenal costs are permanently reduced. 

  I would probably make even deeper cuts, but this proposal is politically feasible, I think.

No comments: