Beautiful Virgin Islands

Wednesday, Jul 23, 2025

Does the US really need to spend $800bn on its military?

Does the US really need to spend $800bn on its military?

Joe Biden’s likely request for a record-breaking defense budget shows America’s priorities remain all wrong
President Biden is expected to ask Congress for a record-shattering military budget for the fiscal year 2023 that will exceed $770 billion and could reach $800 billion, according to a Reuters report on Wednesday, which cited anonymous sources.

While the story has yet to be confirmed, there are many reasons to believe its veracity – and it raises serious questions about the country’s direction.

For starters, American military contractors, who are among the most influential lobbyists in Congress and have a revolving door with the US government, anticipate this will be the case. Just look at what some powerful people in the industry have already said publicly.

James Taiclet, CEO of Lockheed Martin, told investors in a quarterly earnings call on January 25 that “there’s renewed great power competition that does include national defense and threats to it,” mentioning that his company needs to be able to meet the demand for what he expects will be higher defense spending in the future.

Raytheon CEO Greg Hayes went a step further on his earnings call the same day. He said that his company is seeing “opportunities for international sales” from conflicts around the world, meaning more defense spending from both America and other countries.

He explained, “We just have to look to last week where we saw the drone attack in the UAE, which have attacked some of their other facilities. And of course, the tensions in Eastern Europe, the tensions in the South China Sea, all of those things are putting pressure on some of the defense spending over there. So, I fully expect we’re going to see some benefit from it.”

Do these guys know something we don’t? Well, the answer is yes, of course they do. The priorities mentioned in the Reuters report for Biden’s spending request would directly impact their companies – for example, modernizing the country’s ‘Nuclear Triad’, updating missile systems, and acquiring new fighter jets, such as Lockheed’s F-35.

Another point worth making about this likely increase in spending is that while Biden is expected to ask for over $770 billion, the number that passes through Congress will probably be much higher. Given this year’s record-high inflation, it means that defense spending will have to increase substantially – to at least over $850 billion – just to keep pace.

Congress has a proven record of giving administrations even more than they ask for when it comes to defense, which is something that transcends the partisan divide. As an example, the budget request during Donald Trump’s final year in office was for $752.9 billion, but that was increased by $25 billion to arrive at a total of $778 billion for the fiscal year 2022. There is every reason to think this trend will continue.

Ironically, around six months ago Biden gave a speech promising a paradigm shift in American foreign policy, an end to “forever wars” and attempts to “remake other countries” with the military. While there were asterisks to add to this that were obvious at the time, it now seems the US is not going to divert war resources to much-needed programs at home, but instead will direct them to new fronts in the forever war, as military contractors have hinted.

For example, there are still thousands of Americans dying from Covid-19 every day. If human life and wellbeing were properly valued, it would be a good idea for the government to put more funding toward its healthcare system. Even pre-pandemic, there were tens of thousands of people dying yearly because of a lack of access to basic health care.

At the time of writing, America’s student debt crisis has reached a monumental total of $1,883,629,046,704. The US is a notoriously unaffordable place to seek a higher education and this debt is crippling young people, even though loan repayment has been paused through the pandemic. In fact, so inaccessible has education become that enrollment in colleges and universities is plummeting – and the White House has gone as far as to describe this problem as a looming national security threat.

There also more basic things to consider, such as the country’s collapsing infrastructure. Sure, Biden passed a bipartisan, $1 trillion infrastructure bill – but this doesn’t even come close to addressing the US’ massive needs. A lot of this has to do with climate change and modernizing or retrofitting existing infrastructure, but the plan to address that is stalled in Congress with no hope of being passed. The country could use a Green New Deal to both adapt to the future and build new infrastructure, with Texas’ flimsy, independent power grid providing a prime example why.

It tells you a lot about America that a $770 billion-plus defense budget is being seriously discussed while the country has all of these gaping wounds – and Biden’s legislative plan to put a band aid on them, the Build Back Better bill, is jammed in Congress. It’s even more galling that this desperately needed funding is being diverted to the military because of situations that the US helped create in the first place.

And while you might think this makes no sense, the net result will be the age-old story of a wealth transfer from taxpayers to military contractors and their shareholders, the people who need help least – as is ever the case in America.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
×