If the U.S didn't spend so much money into its military.....

[kyrax12]

Let's say if the U.S cut its military budget in half.

Would the U.S be much better off economically?

When I first found out the U.S military budget, I was astounded.

This thread turned into a P&N thread, thus moved. -Admin DrPizza

 

[dighn]

they would save money for a while, but then canada will invade and take it all (and burn down your "white house" in the name of the queen).

 

[SandEagle]

Let's say if the U.S cut its military budget in half.

Would the U.S be much better off economically?

When I first found out the U.S military budget, I was astounded.

cut foreign aid off. use the money to build our infrastructure here. America 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. screw everyone else

 

[dank69]

Many American jobs would vaporize.

 

[norseamd]

Yes but you would have to get rid of the corruption instead of just getting rid of programs.

 

[olds]

cut foreign aid off. use the money to build our infrastructure here. America 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. screw everyone else

/thread
EDIT
Wait, what? I thought you quit at 16,000 posts? Fucking liar. Nothing you say can ever be trusted.

 

[jpiniero]

The Military budget is huge but is only (only?) like 20-25% of the federal budget.

It's like:

50% Social Security, medicare, medicaid, welfare
20% Millitary
20% interest on the deficit
10% everything else

 

[Pocatello]

Probably not good in the short term. Many people will lose jobs, good paying jobs at the ship yards, military bases, maintenance depots, etc. Also, many young people are better at being soldiers than regular working joes. Currently, many manufacturing jobs are no longer available, besides building stuffs for the military, another reason why many young people join the military.

 

[Lifted]

The Military budget is huge but is only (only?) like 20-25% of the federal budget.

It's like:

50% Social Security, medicare, medicaid, welfare
20% Millitary
20% interest on the deficit
10% everything else

Not even close. Did you read this at some (mis)information site or did you take a peek at the actual budget which is freely available online?

Military budget is > 50% of US federal budget, and closer to 60% of tax dollars actually collected by the fed. This was in 2013. I believe the budget has shrank, a bit, this year.

Edit: Just checked. Defense spending accounted for 52% of the federal budget in 2013 if you take out social security and medicare (which we all pay into, and they currently pay for themselves, as in no other tax dollars are used to cover the expense, but the surplus is of course looted by the gov.).

FYI, social security and medicare are not taxes but mandatory retirement and health plans (which we may or may not ever collect on). The total collected for SS and Medicare in 2012 was $1.3T. Federal budget w/o these was $2.4T.

 

[mmntech]

Imagine what could be done if all the military and NSA budget was invested into NASA instead. We'd have warp drive by now.

 

[disappoint]

Many American jobs would vaporize.

Better ones would materialize, but only if Americans would put education above Kardashian watching in their list of priorities.

 

[dank69]

Better ones would materialize, but only if Americans would put education above Kardashian watching in their list of priorities.

Demand creates jobs. What will fill the void left behind?

 

[Todd33]

Not even close. Did you read this at some (mis)information site or did you take a peek at the actual budget which is freely available online?

Military budget is > 50% of US federal budget, and closer to 60% of taxes collected by the fed. This was in 2013. I believe the budget has shrank, a bit, in the last year or 2.

Edit: Just checked. Defense spending accounted for 52% of the federal budget in 2012 if you take out social security and medicare (which we all pay into, and they currently pay for themselves, as in no other tax dollars are used to cover the expense, but the surplus is of course looted by the gov.).

http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/federal_budget_detail_fy15bs12014n_3000#usgs302

It's like 22% for 2014. Taking out any spending is disingenuous. We pay various taxes, they just have different names. Then the government spends the money. So defense is 22% of government spending.

 

[unokitty]

Okay with me if you eliminate it.

Last I heard from the Army was to let me know that they had lost all of my personally identifiable data.

Uno

 

[Pocatello]

The best thing the U.S can do is stop trying to invade 3rd world countries and hope to westernize them. Then we can reduce our military budget over a period of time.

 

[Jeff7]

Imagine what could be done if all the military and NSA budget was invested into NASA instead. We'd have warp drive by now.

Maybe not.

 

[mmntech]

http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/federal_budget_detail_fy15bs12014n_3000#usgs302

It's like 22% for 2014. Taking out any spending is disingenuous. We pay various taxes, they just have different names. Then the government spends the money. So defense is 22% of government spending.

Curious that health care spending is higher percentage of the US federal budget than the Canadian federal budget. It only accounts for 19% here. Granted healthcare is the burden of the provincial governments. It accounts for about half the Ontario budget. Though I wonder how much of that goes to admin versus actual healthcare.

 

[Lifted]

http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/federal_budget_detail_fy15bs12014n_3000#usgs302

It's like 22% for 2014. Taking out any spending is disingenuous. We pay various taxes, they just have different names. Then the government spends the money. So defense is 22% of government spending.

Propaganda. These are the actual numbers from the budget, copied by myself into excel, and not from some random .com website pushing an agenda.

Below is the defense budget vs. tax revenue. The percentage of the actual federal budget is "only" 52% thanks to the budget surplus.

The actual numbers copied from the budget:

 

[jpiniero]

FYI, social security and medicare are not taxes

Ignoring the reality that SS has become a tax is pretty self serving.

 

[tynopik]

FYI, social security and medicare are not taxes

From your own images:

The self-pwnage is strong

 

[Lifted]

Ignoring the reality that SS has become a tax is pretty self serving.

Do you consider your 401k a tax? It's the same thing. How many other taxes can you name that have a limit on taxable income? It's the opposite of a progressive tax.

These are the numbers for 2012

SS + Medicare Income - 1,377
SS + Medicare Cost - 1,360

It is being paid back to the people who paid in. Taxes are spent to run the government. Social Security and Medicare are closer to retirement savings plans.

 

[Lifted]

From your own images:

The self-pwnage is strong

It's called a tax.

 

[tynopik]

Do you consider your 401k a tax? It's the same thing.

Can you withdraw money from your social security early? Can you pass it on in your inheritance? Then no, it's not the same thing

It is being paid back to the people who paid in.

You think SS and medicare are only paid to those who paid in? LOL


but lets go straight to the source:

http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc751.html

The Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) tax includes two separate taxes. One is social security tax and the other is Medicare tax. Different rates apply for each of these taxes.

any questions?

 

[Svnla]

I said it in another thread and I will say it again. If you do not touch the entitlement programs such as SS, Medicare/aid, and others and let them growth, you can cut ALL other programs to zero and it will not matter one bit.

 

[maddogchen]

Many European countries spend less than 5% on military. Are they better off financially? Seems like a lot of them are struggling that they won't even stand up to Russia because they fear they will sink their own economies too.