The Pros And Cons Of US Military Spending

The US spends 598.5 billion dollars a year on military expenditures. Since the end of World War II, US military spending has increased exponentially, as the number and intensity of overseas military operations goes up. With the beginning of the Cold War, American foreign policy became inexplicably intertwined with the military might of the country, and its involvement in conflicts worldwide. Even after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US stayed involved in conflicts across the globe. The US should stop overseas military operations, as it is too costly and is bringing little change to the situation. To start, the amount of money spent on the operations draining our national resources. With a total of 598.5 billion dollars(as said earlier) on military operations, half of the yearly budget of our country is spent on wars that are not worth fighting (Federal Budget 101). One website analyzed the amount spent on the war in Afghanistan and found that it cost 120 billion dollars a year, with the results of the war being negligible (Tran). The same website found that over the last decade we have spent a total of 3.7 trillion dollars on fighting in the Middle East, with little changing. With all of these expenses, this war is wasting valuable materials and capital that should be used to …show more content…
The US has been fighting this war on terrorism for a decade, and is still fighting, with little change to show for it (Tran). Peacekeeping missions led by the US increased in intensity around the world in the 1990’s, and over the last two decades the world has become a more dangerous place, which shows that the fight has been for naught (RAND). With public support for the wars divided, and the war not accomplishing anything, the wars and operations need to end (RAND). The loss of life and capital has been too extreme and the results too minimal to continue any overseas operations that the US is involved