Why we spend so much money on the military

[Will]

Why does the US military spend more money than the rest of the world combined? Here's one explanation.

Boeing received more government contract dollars (military or otherwise) last year than any other company. According to official records, we paid Boeing $12 billion dollars in the first two quarters alone.

However, only 5.1% of the contract dollars were won through full and open competition.



(Also note the $4 billion dollars in the "unknown" category. I can't even put "unknown" for any amount greater than $10 in my company expense account!)

How does Boeing get away with this? Maybe it's because they know how to bribe Pentagon officials or maybe it's because they know no one is watching the store:

Twenty-five of the 100 largest Pentagon contractors have been found guilty of procurement fraud in the last seven years, some more than once. Yet not one has been barred from Government contracting, and the renewed debate over how to discourage such fraud has produced no easy solutions.

While Boeing rides the gravy train, our other priorities like education are neglected:



Here's my reaction (well... if I were female, blond, and cute):



Image credits: Fedspend.org, "Cute Girl" from Brymo, and "bookstore" from gd1cker.

[osiris7]

Excellent visual representation of inaccountability in action. We have friendly neighbors on both sides of the country, yet we spend more than all other nations combined on our military. Overseas actions and bases are claimed to be for our "national interest", which really just means the interests of a few large multinational American corporations. Let them pay for it, I say, because it's really just making us less safe. When hubris and ineptitude rule the day, all the shiny new B2 bombers in the world can't protect us from a few determined evil men armed with box cutters.

[Will]

Good points. And the irony is, despite our supposed focus on the military, we do so little for our veterans. I'm sure some of the money wasted in no-bid contracts could've purchased quite a few upgraded body armor for our troops in Iraq.

[windycindy]

My husband word as an electrical engineer for Boeing. It used to bother me that he worked for a company that builds killing machines and bombs! However, in this crazy mixed-world, it is a necessity to be prepared. In Russia, it use to be the case that teachers were paid more than doctors. The teachers were indoctrinating the minds of the students which the government saw as more important!

[alex]

If you're interested in this topic, you may enjoy Why We Fight - A Film By Eugene Jarecki.

[purplefdu]

The military has long been a black hole of funding, with budgeting often not checked (who remembers the ten million dollar bolts on submarines?) and no one wanting to put a stop to it. But because it is controled by a government where bloated spending, budgets and salaries are the normal thing its only through complete soladarity will change that. Even if we get the budget tightened it will still be one of the more costly expenses in the US budget. And the problem as I see it isn't getting money to buy body armor, its buying better body armor with what we are spending now.

[Cziki]

Boeing also received a huge tax relief in Washington state where they were supposed to add thousands of well-paid employees (i.e. engineers) into their payroll.

Well, it turns out they did get the tax relief but mostly hired low-paying (by Seattle standards) unskilled and uneducated workers.

[Scudley]

I think the US uses it's military strength to protect and pursue it's economic interests. The US military presence in the Middle East pretty proves this point. Thus, 'investing' in a such a large military budget is ultimately justified by its return, ie. foreign oil, resources, and unrivalled access to foreign markets.