How much would you cut the US Military budget by?

Call me a cold-hearted isolationist, but I'd prefer to withdraw every unit to the United States and focus solely on defense.

So whatever that amounts to - I guessed 80%.

 

If I was the US, I would cut military spending by about 70 percent. So that the money that was going to military spending could be used to...
-improve the social programs we have now
-fund new social programs
-fund infrastructure projects all over the country

List of countries by military expenditures - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I was looking at this wiki about world military spending and found one thing confusing... depending on who is doing the ranking Canada has a much different amount.

 

If they brought manufacturing back and had lots of jobs for the soldiers then a cut would be good.

 

I voted 30%, as a start. I'd like maybe downsize our foreign bases, but maintain them ready to be used if the situation ever arises that we need a muscular force of brute strength. At present, a more tactical, surgical military is in vogue, but that's based on the premise that we are "always preparing for the last war." I'd like the US to maintain it's power projection, supply logistics, and ability to evolve on a moment's notice, should the situation unfortunately ever require.

 

I am definitely a leftist but I support at least a somewhat strong defense. I'd say around a 30-35 percent cut.

 

I am aiming for 20% so long as Veteran's benefits weren't cut

 

Impossible for me to say. My brother's in the Navy and I can't help but imagine I'd be cutting his position.

But by his admission the military is disgustingly wasteful and needs not so much cuts to existing assets, but efficiency. I'd be happy if they pulled out of most engagements and trimmed down, but can't put a number on it :S

 

Good point, I nearly forgot about benefits and all that.

Whereas America has solved some problems with the military, the UN is created, I think the USA can step down as the international police. Not only that but nearing 20trillion USD in debt is a scary thought. We let our debt spiral out of control and it will continue to do so if it doesn't stop. The government needs to get priorities straight and cut the fat- starting with unnecessary wars worsening out diplomacy in countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan, killing many people with little cause and spending waaaay too much money.

 

20% decrease at the most. Always be prepared, I say. However, we have a lot of homeless veterans still. They spent time in war, and war is hell. We owe them something, right? Is some of the military budget going to that? If not, then we still have quite the debt to pay off and a 20% cut is probably justified (as much as I am reluctant to admit it, since my family is full of Chinese veterans and I feel that war is a necessary evil sometimes). Besides, strategy is more important than sheer numbers. America did not have numbers when it gained its independence, after all. Furthermore, if we do make the cut, we need to have jobs for soldiers that are being cut off. Since they have to kill others, it's only fair that we give them something in return for their services. Veterans, guys. We should care about our soldiers' well being.

One more thing. Medicare and Social Security have larger budgets than the military by a significant amount. Why is this? Shouldn't we find a less costly alternative? We do need that money for things like education and science, for example.

 

Wait, what?! You know what Medicare and SS are, right?

As for the military budget, I'm not too informed on the issue, but I think that any cuts should be made gradually. And the best way to go about saving money would be to not start another war. Iraq was already one too many.

 

I have a more libertarian view when it comes to the defense budget; I'd cut the military budget by half. Doing so would still leave the U.S. with the most powerful (and expensive) military in the world. There is absolutely zero need for America to have such a large military and to have so many military bases around the world.

But that's never going to happen because the Republican Party has been taken over by neoconservatives and the Democratic Party does whatever is politically safe. There is pretty much no difference between either party when it comes to military spending.

 

But most of our tax dollars go toward the defense budget. I don't know how a true conservative could be in favor of lower taxes and smaller government, yet be in favor of a massive military that eats up a significant amount of tax dollars. It's pretty much just a huge welfare program.

 

I'd cut by 50-60%. When you have a larger military budget than the next twelve nations combined- many of which are our allies-there is a problem.

 

Holy shit, that's a lot!...Have I been reading biased articles? I think I have.
I'm just a kid, so I don't think I'll be reading graphs and charts and scholarly articles, but I do want to be informed. Ignorance does tend to correlate with stupidity, so I want to know what's going on. I'd like to make a better decision based on that.

Then again, I'm not really a neocon. I mean, I just sort of squeak onto the "neocon" side of the non-interventionalist vs neocon scale. I should think about this more.

 

That's not true.

You can cut the defense budget significantly by not spending so much money on large defense contracts to build shit we don't even use (tanks come to mind, and certain aircraft, and bombs). That's where a lot of the money is going; people in the military don't make that much money at all. However, I'd still be in favor of cutting some solders; absolutely no need for as many as we currently have.

And thinking that cutting the defense budget would make America more "weak" and susceptible to an attack on its military bases is nothing more than nonsensical neoconservative talking points. To repeat: Cutting the defense budget in half would still leave the U.S. with the most expensive and powerful military in the world.

Again, it's a huge welfare system. I'd rather keep more of my tax money in my pocket than pay for useless shit.

 

Also, here are some very simple ways to cut defense spending. 10 Ways to Cut the Military Budget by 25 to 50% | Green Shadow Cabinet

This is probably one of the few things we agree on politically, Mike, :lol:

The US Military is the biggest welfare system in the United States. And again, I don't hate our military or anything similar to it, I have friends that I thank everyday for serving our country. I just hate the fact that we spend hundreds of billions of dollars a year to keep war contractors afloat.

And by "welfare system" I mean a welfare system for companies like Halliburton.

 

I can't say for certain. I'd need some numbers and to see how what we cut is going to affect the military. Just like anything else, you can't just say "Cut defense spending" and be done with it, I'd have to take into consideration the consequences.

 

If the US military would only focus on defense and would close all their military bases around the world, it would be great. If US military no longer existed it would be even better.

I usually hear people from the USA saying that the deployment of troops all around the world is for helping those oppressed by their governments, bringing democracy where there are cruel dictators and so on. The truth is that the military power of the USA is only used against political enemies or strategic countries for USA government geopolitical interests or big corporations businesses, but what any ally government does or how dictatorial, oppressive or anti-democratic it is doesn't matter at all as far as they stay submissive to the USA foreign policy and make it easy for big USA corps to make a lot of money there.

 

I'm going to err on the lower side on my vote—let's not cut the spending all at once, but redirect it into actively dismantling some of our weaponry, and especially the nuclear weapons. Repurpose these materials for civilian purposes. Repurpose the research and development for civilian purposes. After all, that's how we got the internet and carbon fiber. Create a bunch of jobs that will actually do some good for the world. And seriously the US military is one organization rich enough to pull it off.