US Military Spending Still Up 45% Over Pre-9/11 Levels; More Than Next 7 Countries Combined

Guest Post by Dan Froomkin

Featured photo - US Military Spending Still Up 45% Over Pre-9/11 Levels; More Than Next 7 Countries Combined

(This is an item from our new blog: Unofficial Sources.)

Despite a decline in military spending since 2010, U.S. defense expenditures are still 45 percent higher than they were before the 9/11 terror attacks put the country on a seemingly permanent war footing.

And despite massive regional buildups spurred by conflict in the Ukraine and the Middle East, the U.S. spends more on its military than the next seven top-spending countries combined, according to new figures compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

That’s nearly three times as much as China, and more than seven times as much as Russia.

The share of world military expenditure of the 15 states with the highest expenditure in 2014. (Source: SIPRI)

Saudi Arabia is now the fourth-biggest military spender on the globe, which in its case means spending nearly $80 billion last year buying weapons, mostly from the U.S., and most notably including fistfuls of F-15 fighters and top-of-the-line attack helicopters.

As Mark Mazzetti and Helene Cooper reported for The New York Times over the weekend, the new arms race in the Middle East has resulted in a “boom” for American defense contractors.

U.S. military spending has now fallen by 20 percent since its peak in 2010. But overall, the world’s arms bazaar is doing just fine, reports SIPRI, as “reductions in the United States and Western Europe were largely matched by increases in Asia and Oceania, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Africa.”

China, Russia and Saudi Arabia all “substantially increased their military expenditures,” with the Saudis now spending a staggering 10 percent of their GDP on military expenditures — although it’s doubtful they can even feel it.

In a supplemental report, SIPRI reports on how the crisis in the Ukraine has led to “a renewed commitment by NATO members to spend at least 2 per cent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on the military.” The U.S. is spending 3.5 percent of its GDP on military expenditures.

(Photo of F-15s. Getty Images)

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Westcoaster
Westcoaster

“The U.S. is borrowing 3.5% of it’s GDP on military spending”. There, fixed it for ‘ya!

Anonymous
Anonymous

Comparisons across countries need to be adjusted for the purchasing power of what is being spent in local terms.

A dollar buys a whole lot more in China than it does in the U.S., and most of those European countries and Japan that spend less have heavy (free) support from our military instead of having to count on their own alone so they just don’t have to spend as much.

Zarathustra

Saudi Arabia spends almost as much as Russia on the military? What are they preparing for…

TE
TE

I call BULL on these numbers.

We are waging war, building ships, planes and bombs, but, oh yeah,

I’ll bet the Department of Homeland Security’s playing at home/cyber isn’t counted at all.

Lies, damned lies, statistics and government reports of all kinds.

There is NO possible way our “military” spending is less since 2010, no way.

They just moved expenses somewhere else, just like the IRS crying about “reduced staff and resources” as they were gifted tens of thousands of employees and billions of dollars with the healthcare funding. Started LONG before the first person got a chance to buy insurance or get it for free.

We really are past the point where nothing we are told is even close to the truth anymore. Nothing.

Or, believe this, along with anything else they tell us about anything, at your own financial, health and unfettered, risk.

We are at full propaganda and retard. Plan accordingly.

Zarathustra

Interview on RT today with the Iranian Defense Minister. Worth listening to.

http://rt.com/shows/worlds-apart-oksana-boyko/252225-nuclear-deal-iran-missile/

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