Military Spending: How much is enough?

The nearly $900 billion “defense” spending for the 2023 fiscal year is sacrosanct according to The Wall Street Journal

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Laurence M. Vance, columnist and policy advisor for the Future of Freedom Foundation, succinctly sums up the bipartisan vote on the so-called defense budget at the LewRockwell.com blog, “The $858 billion military budget is $45 billion more than Biden requested, and a 10 percent increase over last year’s $778 billion authorization. It includes $800 million for the black hole that is Ukraine and also includes $10 billion for Taiwan. You can read a summary here. Only 5 GOP senators voted against the bill (H.R. 7776) in the Senate on Dec. 15. Only 35 GOP representatives voted against the final version in the House on Dec. 8. Both parties are the war party. Who benefits the most from the bill? Certainly not the American people. The merchants of death otherwise known as defense contractors are the big winners.” 

With a $32 trillion national debt and a nearly $6 trillion federal budget proposed for FY 2023, Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of the House Freedom Caucus asserted, “We got a $32 trillion debt.  Everything has to be on the table.”  The Wall Street Journal editorial objected.  It stated the defense budget should not “shrink” the military, because the “world grows more dangerous.” 

You would think Jordan is calling for closing the Pentagon, and the US is in danger of an imminent attack from whom?  Russia? China?  Bulgaria?  Vietnam? 

The WSJ makes a gross assumption, namely, the military budget cannot be reduced one dime otherwise that will be a “signal” for Putin or Xi to launch a strike against the US homeland. 

This passes as serious foreign policy analysis.  America’s bipartisan belligerent policies in the name of “spreading democracy” around the world is the big lie.  The CIA overthrow a democratically elected government in Iran (1953) and the Allende government in Chile (1973).  And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

And now with the Biden administration involved in a proxy war with Russia in Ukraine, it should be clear that we have not had a defense budget in decades but a policy of interventionism that have given us as Trump correctly observed “endless wars.” 

House Republicans have an opportunity to put America’s foreign policy on the right track.  No more endless wars, no proxy wars, no more entangling alliances, no more military spending on steroids and yes to diplomacy and trade—the essence of an American first foreign policy.

Murray Sabrin, PhD, is emeritus professor of finance, Ramapo College of New Jersey. Dr. Sabrin is considered a “public intellectual” for writing about the economy in scholarly and popular publications. His new book, The Finance of Health Care: Wellness and Innovative Approaches to Employee Medical Insurance (Business Expert Press, Oct. 24, 2022), and his other BEP publication, Navigating the Boom/Bust Cycle: An Entrepreneur’s Survival Guide (October 2021), provides decision makers with tools needed to help manage their businesses during the business cycle.  Sabrin's autobiography, From Immigrant to Public Intellectual: An American Story, was published in November, 2022.