When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, many strategists suggested that the Cold War arms race had bankrupted its economy and caused its downfall. More than 20 years later, it appears that some in Washington are driving the U.S. toward a similar fate.
Most recently, House Republicans (led by Rep. Paul Ryan) introduced a budget that both lavishly funds the Pentagon and slashes domestic programs. Mr. Ryan has even questioned whether generals were being honest in their assessment of the president's budget, suggesting, "We don't think the generals are giving us their true advice." House Republicans seem to be ignoring the advice of our military leaders and are seeking to fund the Pentagon beyond what it requires or has requested.
For example, the Joint Strike Fighter (F-35) is now slated to cost the American taxpayer $1.5 trillion, with about a trillion attributable to its expensive maintenance costs. This is a perfect example of wasteful programs: the F-35 is becoming too expensive to bother flying in the first place. Instead of delaying contracts, it's time for elected officials to pull the plug.
Meanwhile, the foundations of a strong economy -- public education, infrastructure development, commitments to research and development and a secure safety net that protects our most vulnerable citizens from poverty -- go starved for funding. This is the trade-off of the Ryan Republican budget proposal.
Military leaders agree that we must address our economic security as the foundation of our national security. Adm. Michael Mullen, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has noted that "the most significant threat to our national security is our debt." With that in mind, this is a time for tough decisions on both sides of the aisle, not a time to toe the party line and protect unwanted programs.
Meanwhile, the United States is in an arms race with itself. No other country can compete with the size of our military budgets, the lethality of our weapons or the global reach of our armed services.
We dominate a vacuum of power. The Air Force's only rival in the air is the U.S. Navy, owner of the world's second-largest air force. On the seas, the Navy is unrivaled but continues to add ships to the fleet. In this vacuum, members of Congress challenge each service to outspend each other, far beyond what is feasible for true national security. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta noted, "you've also got to take into consideration the national security threat that comes from the huge deficits and the huge debt that we're running." We cannot afford to avoid tough decisions when it comes to our budget. We certainly can't afford to give each branch of the military a blank check for weapons systems we don't need.
Meanwhile, we maintain a vast and redundant nuclear arsenal that brings very little national security benefit and is more relevant to the Cold War than any 21st century threats. Instead of escalating our own nuclear arsenal, we should be dedicated to preventing rogue states and terrorist organizations from acquiring nuclear materials.
Lobbyists and private contractors profit from this arms race. Hugely expensive projects like nuclear submarines and a new generation of bomber contribute more to defending the bottom line of major contractors than they do to defending America. Our government now employs more defense contractors than members of the military, at a greater cost to the American citizen. It is time to move away from a self-perpetuating procurement process that counts national security in dollars -- not sense.
Runaway Pentagon spending exacts a very high price on our economy. It is no exaggeration to say that excessive military spending is starving state and city budgets, costing us millions of jobs and perpetuating the recession for many Americans. Dollar for dollar, money invested in weapons produces fewer jobs than money invested in education, green jobs, or a myriad of other industries, according to a study by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.
If our leaders in Washington want to strengthen our security, they should enact smart cuts in the U.S. military budget and reallocate those funds to the most fundamental source of our strength: our economy.
This is a dangerous time for elected officials to play politics with the budget. Luckily, Sens. Barbara A. Mikulski and Ben Cardin are both in positions to lead the charge against short-sighted budgets. Senator Mikulski is a member of the Defense Appropriations Committee and Senator Cardin is a member of the Budget Committee. They have opportunities to be vocal advocates of Pentagon budget reform and demand more common sense when it comes to reinforcing our economy.
This is a time to make serious decisions and strengthen our economic foundation, but the Ryan budget misses that mark by a wide margin. It is an unserious effort when serious ones are required.
Jeff Blum, a Baltimore native, is executive director of USAction, a federation of 22 state affiliates (including Progressive Maryland) that organizes for progressive change.
This post originally appeared in the Baltimore Sun on April 9, 2012.
(1) Eliminate military contractors who do the same thing as our military used to do at two or three times the price with no oversight.
(2) Mothball 5 of our 11 carrier battle groups. These ships are expensive to man & maintain, and encourage us to poke our nose into places it shouldn't be. If we reduced our reliance on foreign oil, we wouldn't need carriers protecting the MidEast oil routes.
(3)Reduce our nuclear arsenal to 1000 warheads or less. I'd suggest going lower if Russia and China go along with this.
(4)We don't need another fighter plane. Drones have proven to be much more effective in today's modern ground conflicts. When was the last time fighter pilots went one-on-one in our recent conflicts?
(5)Make defense contractors responsible for cost overruns. Vigorously prosecute and imprison for fraud in defense contracts. Place contractors on a no-bid list if they are convicted of fraud in their dealings with the military.
(6)Make it illegal for general and admirals to take a job in a defense-related industry for 10 years following retirement.
When cutting the defense budget, this does not mean shortchanging or cheating our veterans out of benefits they have rightfully earned in the service of our country. Our veterans are people, and people always come before hardware.
Vanity Fair magazine recently ran an excellent Todd Purdum article on this very topic:
"...Kennan reflected on a topic that had become something of an obsession for him by his 80th year: the “extreme militarization not only of our thought but of our lives”—a phenomenon that had had a profoundly distorting effect on the entire economy. Military spending had become a national addiction. “We could not now break ourselves of this habit,” Kennan wrote, “without the most serious of withdrawal symptoms. Millions of people, in addition to those other millions that are in uniform, have become accustomed to deriving their livelihood from the military-industrial complex. Thousands of firms have become dependent on it, not to mention labor unions and communities.”
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/01/Todd-Purdum-on-National-Security
http://www.bipartisanpolicy.org/blog/2012/03/chairman-ryan%E2%80%99s-fiscal-year-2013-budget-details
The people need to retake control of their government. Until they do, nothing will change.