Reviewing our military budget

Lindsay Koshgarian, director of the National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, looks at some areas of the defense budget that could be cut. She thinks we could save $300 billion a year, just about the same amount as Medicare for All. Now, I'm not in favor of Medicare for All, but I do think we spend a hell of a lot of our money on the military.

She begins her article by reminding us that "Over 18 years, the United States has spent $4.9 trillion on wars, with only more intractable violence in the Middle East and beyond to show for it. That’s nearly the $300 billion per year over the current system that is estimated to cover Medicare for All (though estimates vary)." Let's look at the areas she thinks we can cut.

"The $4.9 trillion we’ve spent on wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria and elsewhere grows to $5.9 trillion once we add in future care for veterans of those wars. That’s more money than the G.D.P. of every country in the world other than the United States and China.... Despite the obvious downsides, Pentagon officials first requested $165 billion in war funds for 2020, although even they admit that only $66 billion of that is actually related to fighting wars — the rest covers regular operations.

"Our support of foreign militaries, $14 billion, is more than five times the budget of the United Nations."

We have "more than 800 bases and installations in more than 90 countries. Closing half or more of our foreign bases could actually enhance our national security by defusing unnecessary tensions and discouraging ill-thought-out interventions. And it would raise about $90 billion for things like Medicare for All. What are we doing with that base in Aruba, anyway?"

We have a lot invested in nuclear weapons; we have "4,000 deployed or stockpiled nuclear weapons, plus 2,500 more retired weapons awaiting dismantling. Our nuclear stockpile amounts to almost half the world total of 15,000."

"President Trump’s border wall has been estimated to cost as much as $25 billion. The sum budgeted for this year alone, at $9 billion, is more than the budget for the Environmental Protection Agency."