Immense Budget

The whittlin’ demands an immense budget. Perspectives:

Chart 3: FY 2008 outlays:

Defense Discretionary 20.5%: Non Defense Discretionary 20.8% : Social Security Medicare/Medic Aid 20.1%: Other Mandatory 12.8%: Interest 7.9%

Table that defense discretionary has grown faster than non defense discretionary and is a larger part of federal spending than in the former adminstrations.

Table S-3: Defense: FY 2001: $302.5B Fy 2009 Request: $515.4
A cumulative 70.4% increaseover 2001.

The operating costs of the wars are paid off budget with supplementals.

See: Table 6-1 Pg 62 and following:
How could the DoD not be refitting the force structure worn out in Iraq and Afghanistan and then some, a huge sum for procurement? Figure 1 below shows procurement increasing while R&D is declining, see figure 2, I conclude either they are paying a large amount of hedonic inflation or the stuff broke in Iraq and Afghanistan is being refitted and replaced. Most likley they are making the wrong things which don’t work.

Figure 1: Total Obligation Authority for for DoD Procurement in constant 2008 dollars from 2001 to 2011 FY 2008 Greenbook, see link

Figure 2: Total Obligation Authority for DoD Research and Development (R&D) in constant 2008 dollars from 2001 to 2011 FY 2008 Greenbook, see link

Figure 3 below concerning Operations and Maintenance (O&M) seems to indicate either the forces are not being trained and maintained (throw away the dusty junker and buy new every so often) or the supplementals are taking on the support for the deployed forces. O&M is also indicative of the army of well paid contractors doing profitable work where they can cut back on Military Personnel (Mil Pers) see Figure 4.

Figure 3: Total Obligation Authority for DoD Operations and Maintenance in constant 2008 dollars from 2001 to 2011 FY 2008 Greenbook, see link

Figure 4: Total Obligation Authority for DoD Mil Pers in constant 2008 dollars from 2001 to 2011 FY 2008 Greenbook, see link


by reader ilsm

From the declines in FY 06 and beyond I think they need a new enemy to turn the growth rate up for whittlin’ the warfare machine.

Also from the Greenbook: DoD Total Obligation Authority Constant 2008 dollars over past forty one years:

1967 $504,647M Largest during Vietnam conflict
1985 $52o,241M Largest during Reagan whittling spree
2006 $524,686M A big year for the Global War on Terror. There are more half trillion dollar obligation authorities since 2003 than any other period since the 1950’s.

If peace and or sanity ruled the pentagon what would I write about?
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by reader ilsm