Try to imagine all the people in the United States struggling to put food on the table for their families, while the military spends $500 on a screwdriver. It’s outrageous, but it happens every day. With unemployment rates sky rocketing the U.S. cannot afford these prices anymore. The United States Federal Government should substantially decrease their spending in military and focus on more important programs such as social services.
According to an article titled “House bill offers aid cuts to save military spending” in May of 2007 the House held the choice between social programs and pentagon spending. The choice was to slice $261 billion from food stamps, Medicaid, social services and other programs for struggling Americans over the next decade to save $50 billion in military cuts (Weisman, Jonathan 2012). In other words, the Government wants to cut $261 billion dollars from social programs to avoid cutting from the military. As a student, I rely on programs such as Medicaid for my health insurance and section eight, but I am not alone. If these cuts were to take place 280,000 children would lose their school lunches and 300,000 children would lose their health insurance (Weisman, Jonathan 2012). Programs such as child abuse prevention programs, meals on wheels and child care would be cut (Weisman, Jonathan 2012). The United States’ unemployment rate is currently 7.8% (Y Charts). Cutting programs like food stamps and social services would send 7.8% of the nation in a downward spiral. Not to mention, hundreds of thousands of children would be affected from these cuts. It is outrageous what the government is willing to do to increase funding in military. But what is the United States really spending?
According to the Military Database of 2013, global military spending stands at over 1.7 trillion annually. The U.S. alone spends 39.0% of our G.D.P. on military! That is more than the following 15 countries combined (Global issues). But can we afford to keep being the world’s peacekeeper? The answer is simply no; our economy is struggling as it is. We need to focus on ourselves as a nation. We cannot afford to keep fighting other countries wars. As said by Bill Flores “Deficit spending is what’s going to bankrupt our children.” The government needs to be thinking about the future generations and decrease spending before our children do go bankrupt.
But the military also comes with psychological problems afterwards. These include post-traumatic stress disorder or “Shell Shock” and suicide attempts. According to an article in U.S. News 349 people took their own lives across all four branches in the military in 2012. An article in the New York Times called “Despite Army efforts, soldier suicides continue” tells the story of a young man named Armando G. Aguilar Jr. and what led to his suicide. He had just returned from a tough job in Iraq, where his job was to drive an armored vehicle to search for bombs says the author McKinley. Armando had tried twice to commit suicide since returning even though the doctors in the army had even gave him medication for insomnia, depression and panic attacks. In August he pulled the trigger and took his own life at the age of 26, leaving behind his wife and family. The army doesn’t only destroy the lives of our enemies, but the lives of our own. The military seems to be the enemy on both sides.

Any patriotic person would argue we need more money in military for the public to feel safe. One argument is the increased spending of military in China. According to an article by Jane Perlez, China increased their military to a grand total of 11.2% over the last decade. The U.S. is worried because we do not know the weapon systems in which they are developing. Instead of the government being worried about our own people, our own social programs, we are worried about china that spends 27.8% less on military! It is absolutely ridiculous what the governments’ priorities are. We have children fighting for an education, unemployment rates continuing to rise and the government is worried about another country.

The U.S. needs to lower military spending to save our future generations. If this does not happen our children are going to become bankrupt. Our economy will begin to seize to exist if the government continues to make the decisions they are. Our children should not have to fight for their education; our soldiers should not be taking their own lives because of the military. Our soldiers and children deserve a better future. This is why the U.S. Federal Government should substantially decrease their funding in military.