It’s Time to Slash US Military Spending by Half

Imagine in Iran that instead of spending their wealth – billions of dollars supporting terrorists or weapons, [they] had spent that money helping the people of Iran. You’d have a much different country.

–Secretary of State Marco Rubio

It’s not possible for us to take care of daycare, Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual things. . . . We have to take care of one thing: military protection.lgernon

–President Donald Trump

US military spending eats up nearly half of all discretionary spending (see below figure). Instead of rebalancing spending so that more money is going to things like daycare and health care that would help the people of the United States, President Trump wants to make the gargantuan military budget even larger.

Trump’s budget proposal “builds upon the historic $1 trillion overall defense topline enacted for 2026 and requests $1.5 trillion in total budgetary resources for 2027.” Trump wants to funnel money into the already stuffed coffers of the military-industrial-technological complex because apparently, in the Trump administration’s view, the purpose of government is to make the rich richer.

Instead of increasing spending on the military by 50 percent, we should cut military spending by 50 percent. Doing this would produce a massive peace dividend. Reducing the military budget by half and freeing up half a trillion dollars would put to rest the question, “Where are we going to get the money for that?” With half of a trillion dollars, we could begin the transition to a more affordable health care system. Or, we could simultaneously invest more in affordable housing andaffordable higher education and our energy infrastructure. There are many possibilities.

A US military that is half of its current size would still be a dominant military power in the world. A smaller US military should also make presidents less cavalier about starting unnecessary wars. This would save American lives, not just money. The United States would also likely be less of a global bully and have improved relations with the other countries of the world. A smaller military would be a win for the people of the United States and for the rest of the world.

This first appeared on CEPR.

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