Proposed Solution: Decreasing Military Spending Is a Beneficial Alternative
It is viable to propose a step-by-step reduction in spending as a solution to pursue. The country’s military budget has grown despite all the objections. Reduced spending would increase the state’s potential to address more imminent threats, such as the reverberations and effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health of rather vulnerable categories, such as children or the elderly. Another crucial argument for cutting spending pertains to military costs’ influences on the variety of employment opportunities for citizens, so the proposed solution can offer more balance between jobs in both sectors of economics.
Proposed Solution: Evidence for the Solution and Cuts in Military Spending
The aforementioned solution relies on evidence from comparative research focused on the world’s prominent military powers and the volume of resources they devote to defense. As of 2020, the U.S. spent more money on defense than ten different countries that are the world’s largest military powers after the U.S. Based on these countries’ characteristics, such as the percentage of the world’s landmass and the size of the population, such spending patterns are not completely rational, so pursuing the solution is crucial to addressing the disproportion. Despite requiring structural changes, the proposed solution would offer a chance to redistribute the excess funding to the areas that are currently more problematic.
Proposed Solution: Despite Counterarguments and Objections, Reductions in Spending are Rather Safe for the U.S.
One common objection to pursuing the selected solution refers to the threat of losing the status of a military superpower and becoming more vulnerable to external threats. However, experts’ calculations suggest that this perspective is overly pessimistic and does not consider the currently enormous gap in military spending between the U.S. and its foreign counterparts. Aside from Russia, the top countries in terms of spending on defense currently have positive diplomatic relations with the U.S., implying that the threat can only come from one source that is not the strongest economically. Even after cutting expenses on weapons and military personnel and reducing operation costs, the U.S. will remain protected from hypothetical external aggression, which adds credibility to the offered strategy.
Proposed Solution: Spending on Defense Should be Reduced to Alleviate Other Social Issues
Implementing the proposed solution, including cutting the military force’s size, making more cost-effective weapon purchasing decisions, and addressing equipment and personnel operation costs, could have positive impacts on social security and people’s well-being. The homeless and families living in poverty could benefit from the reconsideration of the country’s priorities. The excessive funds could also serve as the means to support the country’s long-term social security deficiencies, such as the absence of guaranteed paid leaves for employed parents. Finally, spending cuts could cover some part of the Medicare For All program or be used to facilitate access to healthcare services in another way.