The Biden administration has requested a federal budget of $6.88 trillion in fiscal 2024, which begins on October 1. According to the White House budget office, that is an amount equal to about a quarter of the nation’s $27 trillion economy.
Is 3.1% too much? Washington is pressing European allies to spend at least 2% of their own economies on defense. The amount of money the Pentagon is seeking next year for research, development and production of weapons—about a third of its proposed budget—is equivalent to 1% of the national economy. Is that too much?
Or take the Navy’s shipbuilding plan. The service plans to buy exactly one aircraft carrier over the next five years, for a construction cost somewhere in the vicinity of $12.4 billion. It’s the most expensive warship in the world, but at $12.4 billion, the carrier represents only 16 hours of federal spending at 2024 rates—spread over five years.Let’s look at the planned level of defense spending a different way, through the lens of leisure activities popular in the U.S.
When you compare spending on some of the lesser holidays with the Pentagon’s budget, it provides a striking commentary on how resources are allocated. All of which brings me back to where I started. If you think U.S. military spending is excessive, then you probably don’t want to look too closely at the other ways we Americans spend our money.
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