You may remember seeing old TV footage of U.S. President, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, in which he said that "…we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex."
This was Eisenhower’s last public address as President before leaving office and he thought the topic important enough to devote his last public address to it. The date of this speech was 1961, when U.S. military expenditures were a mere 291 billion dollars (adjusted for inflation). The Cold War with the Soviet Union was in full swing and President Eisenhower was clearly concerned that such "large" defense expenditures could create a dynamic of their own. A dynamic that would tie the hand of any leader in the long run would be detrimental to the health of our nation.
Last year, the United States of America spend more on defense than ALL of the other nations on earth combined. A staggering 623 billion dollars. The trend is towards further increases. You may say: "Yes, but we are fighting hot wars in Iraq and Afghanistan". But only $150 billion of the $623 billion are allocated for these war. Even without them the U.S. military spending is completely out of proportion to any perceived need to self defense. If this were a "Star Wars" story, we would be the ones building the Death Star. We are the ones wearing the black uniforms.
All Republican Presidential candidates (with the exception of Ron Paul) would like this situation to become more extreme. To my surprise, even the leading contenders on the Democratic side think that this situation is just swell and have no problem with it.
For a more detailed analysis of current military expenditures with source references, see this previous post and this excellent article by Glenn Greenwald in Salon.
