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Military Budget In The United StatesThe US military budget is that portion of the United States discretionary federal budget that is allocated for the funding of the Department of Defense. The budget finances employee salaries and training costs, the maintenance of equipment and facilities, support of new or ongoing operations, and development and procurement of new equipment. The budget includes funding for all branches of the military: Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. Military spending relative to other countries The current (2005) United States military budget is larger than the military budgets of the next twenty biggest spenders combined, and six times larger than China's, which places second. The United States and its close allies are responsible for approximately two-thirds of all military spending on Earth (of which, in turn, the U.S. is responsible for two-thirds), and spend 57 times more than the seven so-called "rogue" nations combined (Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria). Military spending accounts for more than half of the United States' federal discretionary spending, which is all of the U.S. government's money not spoken for by pre-existing obligations. http://www.globalissues.org/Geopolitics/ArmsTrade/Spending.asp According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, in 2003 the United States spent approximately 47% of the world's total military spending of US$956,000,000,000. Relative to the total GDP of the United States, however, the total spending on the military was only 3.7% in 2003. This spending rate has been in a slow decline since peaking in 1944 at 37.8% of GDP. Even during the peak of the Vietnam War the percentage only reached a high of 9.4% in 1968. As a percentage of discretionary spending, the US outlays for defense are also at a relatively low level. In 1972, for example, the percentage was 72.9%. Reasons for large U.S. military expenditures There exist a number of reasons for comparatively large American military spending. First, as of the early 21st century, the American military is unique among national militaries in its goal to maintain a large number of capabilities and to have the ability to project power globally. If its only goal were to maintain a credible nuclear deterrent and sufficient forces to defend against a direct attack on the American homeland, it could well have made do with a much smaller budget. However, the goals of the American military are much more expansive than that. Since the 1940s, there has been a national consensus within the United States that the American military must maintain the capability to fight and win wars overseas in order to defend American allies and to maintain control over the high seas to protect American trade from disruption. This definition of American national interest began in World War II with the attack on Pearl Harbor which ended any widespread support for isolationism. This way of thinking continued during the Cold War during which it was believed that the United States must maintain a global military presence to defend against Communist forces led by the Soviet Union. By the 1990s, the Soviet threat had largely disappeared, however there remains a national consensus that the United States must maintain a global military presence to uphold democracy and maintain international stability. As of the early 21st century, the United States is the only military in the world which is capable of global operations. Maintaining the ability to conduct operations throughout the world include the need to maintain power projection capabilities and the ability to deal with unexpected events - this includes the ability to fight (and win) multiple wars at the same time. Second, the United States spends a great deal on its military because it can. Although the aggregate amount of military spending is large, it represents a relatively small fraction of the total United States economy, and unlike the case with the Soviet Union, the amount spent by the U.S. appears to be sustainable. Indeed, as a percentage of discretionary spending or gross domestic product, the U.S. military budget has actually seen an overall slow decline since the early 1950s. http://www.truthandpolitics.org/military-relative-size.php Third, while there is a national consensus within the United States to maintain a military of global capability, there is also a national consensus to minimize the human cost to the United States both in terms of number of possible casualties and in terms of the overall size of the military. The solution to this dilemma has been to focus on improvements in technology, and hence the American military is committed to having a technological edge over its potential enemies and an expensive research program to maintain such an edge. Defense related research over the years yielded such major breakthroughs as space exploration, computers, the Internet, hypertext, nuclear energy, Global Position System, stealth aircraft, "smart" weapons, better bullet-proof vests, microwaves, and more recently lasers that can shoot down cruise missiles. Military technology maintains a close relationship with the civilian economy and has contributed to general technological and economic development of the USA, and often, via technology transfer, other countries as well. Conversely, the military has also benefited from the American civilian infrastructure. Fourth and finally, when comparing defense expenditures in the USA and in other nations, it must be appreciated that the buying power of money is different in different places. For instance, with relatively high American general living standards, paying decent salaries to American soldiers, who are all volunteers serving on a contract, is expensive in absolute terms. By comparison, countries with lower living standards with volunteer militaries (e.g. China or India), as well as those who draft men for the military and pay them only basic living expenses (e.g. Russia, both Koreas, and Taiwan), would spend a lot less in dollar terms to maintain similar personnel strength. Similarly, military technology produced by civilian companies in the USA and bought by the American military would be more expensive than that produced by Chinese companies and for the Chinese military simply because of lower production costs due to lower living standards, even in cases where the technological sophistication of goods procured is equivalent.
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