This link has been bookmarked by 7 people . It was first bookmarked on 15 Oct 2008, by Todd Way.
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06 Oct 09
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Constant 2005 dollar values are used for comparing past years, where the the 2008 spending amount is over $1.2 trillion:
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- Foreign policy objectives
- Real or perceived threats
- Armed conflict and policies to contribute to multilateral peacekeeping operations
- Availability of economic resources
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16 Jun 09
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05 Apr 09
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05 Mar 09
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15 Oct 08
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Why does the US number seem so high when the budget announced $517.9 for the Department of Defense?
Unfortunately, the budget numbers can be a bit confusing. For example, the Fiscal Year budget requests for US military spending do not include combat figures (which are supplemental requests that Congress approves separately). The budget for nuclear weapons falls under the Department of Energy, and for the 2009 request, was about $29 billion.
The cost of war (Iraq and Afghanistan) is estimated to be about $170 billion for the 2009 spending alone. Christopher Hellman and Travis Sharp also discuss the US fiscal year 2009 Pentagon spending request and note that “Congress has already approved nearly $700 billion in supplemental funding for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and an additional $126 billion in FY'08 war funding is still pending before the House and Senate.”
Furthermore, other costs such as care for vetarans, healthcare, military training/aid, secret operations, may fall under other departments or be counted separately.
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2007 (in billions of dollars) 2007 percent of federal funds budget Source: 43% Percent of Your 2007 Taxes Go to War, Friends Committee on National Legislation, February 14, 2008
Current Military Spending 598 29% Cost of Past Wars 282 14% Total military percent 43% Health Research & Services 423.7 20.5% Responses to Poverty 255.0 12.4% Interest on Non-Military Share of Federal Debt 226.2 11% Government Operations 138.9 6.6% Social Programs 59.9 2.9% Science, Energy, & Environment 53.7 2.6% Non-Military International Programs 29.1 1.4% -
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