SHOULD CONGRESS DOWNSIZE THE U.S. MILITARY BUDGET Essays

"SHOULD CONGRESS DOWNSIZE THE U.S. MILITARY BUDGET?" The issue of defense of the countru should be priority for every government. It is very good that American government created such strong army with the most modern machines and system of defense. The United States should be aware of conflicts and terrorists' acts. It costs a lot of money, but safety of citizens should be provided in the first place. Every American feels, that he is his own country and he can be sure that in case of the war he and his family will be protected. The US is currently spending close to $300 billion a year on military spending. In the Past-Cold war period, this represents a vast waste of public capital. In my opinion government spends too much money on military. The Congress should downsize the US military budget. Let's face some facts about situation inside US. United States are leadership country in the whole world and they are involved in all conflicts happening in the world. America has the most powerful army in the world, which is fit up with the most modern machines. Such strong army guarantees the US the highest position among countries. United States already have weapons, which could destroy the world and they still modernize it. Military spending today is higher than in 1980. In 1980 the government spent $134 billion for military and in 1988 this amount was doubled.. In 1994 President Clinton proposed to spend $264 billion (and only $54 billion to education, only $7 billion to pollution control). The military budget is nearly as large as the military budgets of all the nations of the world combined. America needs a strong army to be prepared for defense from other countries especially from former Soviet Union, whose military is very strong and contains a lot of nuclear weaponry. Such amount of dangerous arsenal can be used to initiate the nuclear war. The current atomic weapon of the US and the USSR add up to 50,000 bombs, which are equivalent to one and a half million Hiroshima bombs. The nuclear strategy for US and USSR was based on deterrence and it was only about who had more power. Even though these countries reached agreement in reducing nuclear weapon, both of them still have enough to destroy the whole life on the planet. The budget of America is mostly based on taxes. For every dollar we spend in our income taxes, 52 cents are taken for military spending and only 2 cents are reserved for education. America is on the first place in spending money for military and only on the tenth place in spending on education . The fact that the US have such strong army does not mean that the US have no problems at all. The US government should consider that every year 10,000 children die because of poverty and only 5% of 196 military budget would lift every child in need out of poverty. The unemployment is next problem of USA. According to statistics, for one billion dollars spent for military 12,000 jobs were lost. The government allocates not enough money to make growth of American education. Two hundred years ago James Madison said: "Education is the true foundation of civil liberty". If America wants to develop itself in the future, it has to invest in education and science. In my opinion spending money on military is necessary, but not in such a big scale as it is now. Fifty percent of taxpayers' money spent on defense is too much. This amount should be (in my opinion) decreased to about 30%. Extra money, which we could get should be allocated for health care, liquidation of unemployment and growth of education. While budget for nutrition, health care, education and environmental protection are being savaged, President Clinton and the Congress have declared the military budget to be exempt from any cuts (projected military spending in 1997 are 258,7 billion). Cutting the military budget and transferring to civilian programs in education and health care would fuel a major expansion of education. This is a precondition for raising the standard of education and of living for all Americans in the 21st century.