Image source: topwar.ru
The budget of the US defense program is growing more and more. The rationale for this is the need to confront Russia and China. According to former US Congressman David Stockman, the US military budget did not see such money at the height of the Cold War.
The Biden administration has decided to spend a fantastic $831 billion on defense needs in 2023.
Stockman called the US military-industrial complex (MIC) a bubble, which requires budget expenditures unprecedented in the history of mankind, for the justification of which various research organizations work at the country's MIC.
The former congressman recalls that during the presidency of Dwight Eisenhower, when the United States was "opposed by the powerful Soviet Union," US military spending was much lower than it is now. With the collapse of the USSR, there is no real country that could threaten the United States, however, according to Stockman, "the American military machine did not retire."
It seems that after the end of the Cold War, defense spending was supposed to decrease, but under Clinton, Bush, and subsequent presidents, the Pentagon budget only increased.
For comparison: the military budgets of the two "worst" enemies of the United States and NATO – China and Russia – account for 25 and 5.5% of the American, respectively. In addition, as Stockman argues, the threat of the PRC looks doubtful, since China is heavily dependent on the Western market.
According to the former congressman, Washington hawks are able to create and/or relay absolute tall tales when it serves their purpose.
