#1 In 2009, Washington will spend roughly $700 billion on the military. Adjusted for inflation, even the $515 billion for normal (non-Afghan/Iraq) operations is more than America spent annually during the cold war, Korean War, or Vietnam War. Yet then the United States faced the Soviet Union and, in the latter two cases, was fighting a very hot war. Today America faces no threats of comparable magnitude.
The writer is comparing apples and oranges. How so? Cause all the other wars and for an extensive time of the Cold War, it was a draft army paid minimal wages. Today the vast expense is personnel costs both in active duty force and the increased population of military retirees living longer like the rest of the population. That professional forces is expensive per head than any other time, it is also the finest military of its size seen in history in it's skill and conduct. You get what you pay for. Also the writer should check real close how much of the DoD budget was spent on retirees back in Korea and Vietnam and how much is spent today. DoD already projects that the majority of its medical costs are going to shift from active to retiree in a few years. |