Andrew takes a look at the increasing cost of our military-industrial complex, that is starting to mushroom the costs of all previous wars (including our most expensive -- World War II).
July 1, 2002
Gulf of Tonkin 2007: When you compare the Iraq Resolution and the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, you find similiar blank checks.
Pray for Peace: Let's hope that we can avoid an war with Iran.
Stop the War: Through getting progressive candidates elected, we can stop the war.
The Tragity of the Tet Offensive: The Tet Offensive had a profound effect on American society, yet it's all but forgotten.
War in Iraq: Dumb Idea: Andrew takes a look at that dumb idea of going to war with Iraq.
War is Bad for Everyone: Reasons why everybody should oppose unneccessary wars.
What about Our Domestic Problems?: Andrew is a bit tired of a war that has made us increasing forget about ourselfs, and focus much of our energy on a foriegn country.
Will Congress End Draft Registation?: Thoughs on ending the outdated, outmoded draft registationsystem...
It is around $380,000,000,000 (380 billion) for all defense spending excluding homeland security which adds about $20,000,000,000 (20 billion) to that figure.
| World War II | $560,000,000,000 (560 billion) |
| Vietnam War | $121,500,000,000 (121.5 billion) |
| Civil War | $ 8,000,000,000 (8 billion) |
| Revolutionary War | $ 124,000,000 (124 million) |
| Korean War | $ 70,000,000 (70 million) |
| World War I | $ 66,000,000 (66 million) |
That means in one year, the total homeland security and defense, in one year we will be spending 71.4% of the total cost of World War II (costs which were spread over many years). That's a lot of money.
Subtract the cost of World War II from all other wars on this table, and you'll get $430,240,000,000 (430.24 billion). That's only $30 billion over the total of homeland security and defense.
The cost of all of the wars listed on that table to the United States was $129,760,000,000 (129.76 billion). That's about a third the cost of this year's defense and homeland security budget.
The Vietnam War cost the US $121.5 billion total, that's about 30% of this years defense budget.
I'll leave you with Everrett Dirksen's more famous statements (suppostly): A billion here, a billion there, it sure adds up after a while.
Note: All figures are approximations of the wars to the US of A, and come from Mike Wright's What They Didn't Teach About 60s, adjusted to 2001 figures. They include veteran benifit costs and interest costs.
The defense budget figure, is based on the Bush 2003 budget—the homeland security figure (around $20 billion) plus defense budget aggregated (around $380 bill). Everything is adjusted to 2001 figures.
![[Picture]](/img/small//.jpg) | From the Series. Added 12/31/69. |
Copyright ©1999-2008 Andy Arthur.
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