I ran across a recent survey by The Stimson Center, an independent study conducted on peace and security, shows that the United States spent $1 trillion (1.74 trillion dollars) in equipment and weapons since the attacks of September 11.
The survey "What We Bought: Defense Procurement From FY01 to FY10" exposes Pentagon spending in recent decades and its close link with the U.S. arms industry.
It reveals some shocking spending.
Russell Rumbaugh, a retired U.S. Army and former CIA military analyst, who authored the report points out that the discussion concerned the military courts in the misuse of taxpayers' money. Annually, additional funding is voted for war disbursement, with a separate query for the regular Defense budget.
The extra "tax" is primarily intended to keep daily operations going on in Iraq and Afghanistan, but eventually it is used to buy weapons. Since 2001, 22% of a trillion dollars mentioned in the study came from this mechanism.
Thus, the U.S. spent 232.8 billion dollars to manufacture modern combat weapons such as heavy tanks and F22 fighter jets. Therefore, the end of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the risk of cuts worries the country's arms industry, which will no longer have this "money" available.
The data weakens the justifications of the military and conservatives in Congress that cutting the defense budget could harm American troops in battle - as in the period analyzed, there were no problems to finance the purchase of modern weapons to kill people.
The data also shows that from 1981 to 1990, the U.S. bought 2,063 jets with 68 billion dollars, while between 2001 and 2010, they acquired 220 jets for 38 billion dollars. This is absolutely shocking!
In 80 years, the country bought 375 jets for about $7.5 billion adjusted to current values. In 2010, with 4 billion dollars, the U.S. gained only 25 jets, a 800% increase in price. Two decades ago, the devices cost $20 million each, but in 2010 for the cost was 160 million dollars a unit.
Defense spending is way out of control. Add to that the unfunded wars and the borrowing that has to occure and the amount just keeps getting bigger and bigger.
"You ought to know, After all you paying for it!", says Hurbert Simpson of Charlotte, N.C. when he was asked about the money being wasted in wars. "we have homeless people and people without health care insurance and we spend millions of airplanes to go bomb people in Libya. It makes no sense to me at all", he said.
It makes no sense to me either.
Robert Tilford
Charlotte, N.C.
Comments