The latest comedy-and-news segment of Bill Maher’s “Real Time” show is about the bloated defense budget, asking why Trump doesn’t cut the fat from the military (apparently they cut $580 million). Even Musk has asked that question, referring to the stratospheric price of fighter jets, now largely obsolete in the age of drones.
Maher points out how much larger our defense budget is than that of any other country, including China and Russia, and even the U.S. military says it has 19% more bases than it needs.
Why? It’s the military-industrial complex, Jake!
This is a pretty good one. It’s funny but makes several serious points.
Thank you, I was waiting for someone to address this. Remember the scandal in the ‘80s when someone discovered the Pentagon had paid $600 per seat for toilet seats? I shudder to think what pork lies buried in defense.
Pretty good!
::::: sigh :::::
1) FedGov spending on Defense Of The Nation constitutes between 14% and 16% of all its spending. That’s all.
2) Social Services = 76%.
3) The Prime Directive of USA Federal and State governments is Social welfare through income distribution.
4) Elon/DOGE IS looking at DOD spending.
“Mr Musk, why are you targeting Social Services?”
“That’s where the money is.”
I have a different perspective on the numbers that you provide. I assume that you are using the standard pie chart of federal expenditures that indeed shows Defense and Homeland Security at 16.2%, with Social Security at 25.3% and Health at 28% [not sure where your 76% for Social Services comes from since all of the remaining slices of the pie are 4% or less, e.g. Transportation, Food and Agriculture, Education]
First, I would add the 4% of the budget that goes to Veterans as part of the Military Budget, upping it to 20%
Second, the 25.3% expenditure for Social Security is very misleading in that the 2024 Expenditure was $1.392 trillion, and Revenue was $1.351 trillion. Thus, it is almost a wash, and the 25.3% expenditure should be removed.
Third, similar to Social Security, Medicare is about 46% covered by payroll taxes and taxes paid by Beneficiaries [such as retired folks like me]. Thus, the 28% for Health Services is significantly overstated.
Using these adjustments, the percentage of the budget for the Military expenditures is far greater than 16.2% And since even the Pentagon says they have excess capacity, I’ll have to side with Maher in that there is plenty of expenditure reductions to be found in the Military.
Everyone knows the “trust fund” is a phantom.
The fact that there is a “flavor” for taxes (IN) called FICA that seems to be associated with SS/Medicare+ payments (OUT) is a false distraction. Treasury is a one-bucket strictly cash in cash out operation, fully fungible. The supposed trust account that will fund Social Services in the future is not a tangible asset — it is just the promise that your grandchildren will be taxed to pay, ad infinitum.
“Social Services” is an amalgam of all the caring agencies. It constitutes 76% of FedGov spending. Veteran’s benefits belongs in this group. Why do I insist on demarking this “group?” Because it represents a giant category of political philosophy, namely “Social Welfare.” We made a long-dragged-out decision to add this to the Original Foundation of the United States Government — it is not in the Constitution. We should stare this decision down in its full significance, as a concept at the root, and as the $$ that it costs.
Defense of the Nation is in the Constitution.
Running federal courts and justice is in the Constitution.
Paying interest on current and long-term FedGov debt is in the Constitution.
The vast category of “social services” was added by the Progressive Project. It has … grown.
I totally agree that spending needs to scrutinized for excesses, and was only showing data from the Social Security Administration – https://www.ssa.gov/policy/trust-funds-summary.html And yes, the Trust Fund has been manipulated by Congress, but my point remains – Social Security and Medicare generate revenue, whereas the military generates none.
To echo Senor Swartzendruber’s comments re: placing citizen separately-funded Social Security under Social Services: there’s a Social Security Trust Fund de jure but currently doesn’t exist de facto, or at least for all practical purposes because (with one exception, 2010?) over many years any excess of SS income has been appropriated by the federal government for non-SS purposes, the gov’t giving SS IOU’s currently in excess of $2.5T, based on the “good faith and trust” in the U.S. gov’t. (IIRC this is also true of the Medicare Trust Fund.) My confidence in the U.S. gov’t’s “good faith and trust” is more or less inversely proportional to the amount of the national debt (currently in excess of $30T).
I’d like to know if any of the borrowed SSTF money has gone to Defense, or to Congress members’ constituent-osculating pork projects (which include Defense), or to USAID foreign media (propaganda?) endeavors and other non-basic necessities expenditures (by basic I mean food, clothing, shelter, health care, basic education), like foreign gov’t operating expenditures and pensions.
Regarding U.S. enemies referenced elsewhere in this thread (and U.S. citizens being able to sleep well at night – I confess that I sleep a little better at the prospect of no apparent further insistence on NATO eastward expansion and Union of Concerned Scientists’ clock minute hand movement toward midnight), do these enemies (as opposed to the U.S.) have permanent military bases in the area starting at the International Dateline and heading east to the Prime Meridian?
I think it reasonable that the Veterans Affairs budget should move to Defense at least to the extent that Defense (well, actually neocon Chicken Hawk politicos) bears responsibility for creating adverse health situations and consequences for veterans. (Or would the Muskrats go after veterans no matter in what account funds were placed?)
Very much agreed Filippo.
The “I can read a pie chart” line was good!
Could defence expenditure be more efficient? Almost certainly.
How do I sleep knowing the US vastly outspends their enemies on defence? Very well thank you.
Follow up …
Yesterday, DOGE reported finding and cancelling aprox $500,000,000 in bad contracts and waste at DOD. Five hundred million. Half a billion.
Excellent.
However, DOD budget is $875 billion, so that savings is one half billion out of 875 billion. Takes your breath away, the size of that budget.
It pales before the visualization of half a billion in ratio to the overall spending of 7,000 billion, however. 1:14,000