This article will focus on the reason the American people cannot have nice things. The obvious reason is that military is spending more than America can afford. The idea that the budget deficit can be decreased while military spending increases is simply ludicrous.
The American people are desperate for financial relief. During the last election cycle, they were told that one candidate would relieve their struggles by bringing down the cost of eggs. The other candidate pretended that the economy was in good hands, and the population should ignore the cost to themselves of American support of genocide in Israel and the cost of the proxy war against Russia (via Ukraine). The candidate known for lying even promised to balance the Federal budget.
The American middle class has been under attack since Ronald Reagan. The income inequality exploded, college is no longer affordable without borrowing costs, wages are stagnant. We all know this, we all feel it. Since Reagan, only one prominent politician, Bernie Sanders, has addressed income inequality but the Ruling Class representatives within the Democratic Party disallowed his candidacy via the use of “Super Delegates, a propaganda onslaught and other methods.
During each election cycle, candidates decry the debt and deficit. The last President who balanced the budget was Bill Clinton. Always dishonest, Trump's campaign promises failed to mention that the big beautiful bill will add 2.4 to 3.3 TRILLION dollars to the national debt. Voters who hoped that Trump would stop the impending financial catastrophe are about to be feel the heat.. While adding to the deficit Trumps big beautiful bill will reduce federal Medicaid spending by $793 Billion over ten years for the neediest Americans.
Shall we take a look at the cost of Empire?
The cost of domestic spending is $759 Billion dollars, which is 12% of a 6 trillion dollar budget. Each year since 2000 the percentage of the total budget allocated to military increases, while the percentage of domestic spending decreases.
To assist the reader, I will write “million”, Billion, and TRILLION.
$1,000,000: one million, $1,000,000,000 one Billion, $1,000,000,000,000 one TRILLION
The two charts below, from ChatGpt, considers military spending as discretionary when it is anything but.
Major Budget Categories (2024 est.)Category Amount % of Budget
Mandatory Spending (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid.)$4.1 trillion ~64%
Discretionary Spending (includes defense) $1.7 trillion ~26%
Net Interest on Debt $870 billion ~13%
Discretionary Spending Breakdown
Discretionary spending (~$1.7T) is split between:
Category Amount
Defense (DoD base budget $842 Billion
Other Security (e.g. DHS, nuclear weapons via DOE) $100 Billion
Non-Defense Discretionary (domestic) $759 Billion
A different breakdown from USAspending.gov is that the total amount the government intends to spend in this fiscal year is 6.02 Trillion dollars. The three largest categorizes are National Defense ($848.33 Billion) Net Interest ($698.43 Billion) and Veterans Benefits ($236.43 Billion).
Military spending (including nuclear weapons) is $942 Billion while domestic non-defense spending is $759 Billion (According to ChatGpt). Currently Trump's is proposing the first one trillion dollar defense budget, another 13% increase.
US Department of Defense : As of 11 March 2024 the fiscal year 2025 (FY2025) budget request was $849.8 Billion . This does not include the cost of nuclear weapons, which will cost a total of $946 Billion over the 2025–2034 period, or an average of about $95 Billion a year, according to CBO estimates.
The top 10 costly weapons systems from ChatGpt..
SSBN 826 Columbia Class Ballistic Missile Submarine
> Weapon cost, FY2024: $5.9 Billion per acquired submarine
SSN 774 Virginia Class Submarine
> Weapon cost, FY2024: $5.3 Billion per acquired submarine
> Requested acquisition, FY2024: 2 submarines= $10.6 Billion
DDG 51 Arleigh Burke Class Destroyer
> Weapon cost, FY2024: $2.3 Billion per acquired ship
> Requested acquisition, FY2024: 2 ships = $4.6 BillionAS(X) Submarine Tender Replacement
> Weapon cost, FY2024: $1.7 Billion per acquired ship
> Requested acquisition, FY2024: 1 shipFFG(X) Constellation Class Guided Missile Frigate
> Weapon cost, FY2024: $1.1 Billion per acquired ship
> Requested acquisition, FY2024: 2 ships= $2.2 billionT-AO 205 John Lewis Class Fleet Replenishment Oiler
> Weapon cost, FY2024: $967.6 million per acquired ship
> Requested acquisition, FY2024: 1 shipMQ-4C / RQ-4 Triton/Global Hawk/NATO AGS
> Weapon cost, FY2024: $255.0 million per acquired drone
> Requested acquisition, FY2024: 2 drones= $510 millionMQ-25 Stingray
> Weapon cost, FY2024: $249.7 million per acquired drone
> Requested acquisition, FY2024: 3 drones= $750 millionKC-46A Tanker
> Weapon cost, FY2024: $192.2 million per acquired plane
> Requested acquisition, FY2024: 15 planes
> Acquisition spending, FY2024: $2.9 Billion— #7 most expensiveNSSL & RSLP Launch Enterprise
> Weapon cost, FY2024: $190.8 million per acquired Launch service
> Requested acquisition, FY2024: 15 Launch services
> Acquisition spending, FY2024: $2.9 Billion— #8 most expensiveNSSL & RSLP Launch Enterprise
> Weapon cost, FY2024: $190.8 million per acquired Launch service
> Requested acquisition, FY2024: 15 Launch services
> Acquisition spending, FY2024: $2.9 Billion — #8 most expensive
Cost of Weapons for Israel genocide:
Between October 7, 2023 and September 30, 2024, the U.S. approved $17.9 Billion in direct security assistance to Israel, the largest annual military aid package in its history
Additional U.S. operations in the region (e.g. naval deployments, strike missions in Yemen) cost at least $4.86 Billion during the same period
A more recent estimate places total U.S. spending (aid + regional operations) at $22.8 Billion .
Bottom line: At least $17.9 Billion in weapons plus related military operations since October 7, 2023; rising to about $22–23 Billion including regional deployments.
Weapons Supplied to Ukraine Since Russia’s Invasion (Feb 2022)According to the Kiel Institute:
The U.S. delivered $69 Billion in military aid (Feb 2022–end of 2024)
Broader Western support:
More than $250 billion in combined military, humanitarian, and economic assistance as of early 2025
One breakdown reported €114 Billion ($125 Billion) from the U.S. and €132 Billion ($145 Billion) from the rest of Europe, totaling ~€246 Billion (~$270 Billion) by end-2024 .
Other reports add nuance:
Official U.S. figures show $67 Billion in military aid, with total congressional appropriations reaching $120 Billion, of which about $175 Billion was authorized overall.
Bottom line:
U.S. military aid alone → roughly $60–70 Billion.
Total Western (military + broader) → around $250 Billion.
The secret CIA budget was about 65.7 Billion in 2022. (Wikipedia).
The surprise attack on Iran: A low estimate of the cost of the June 21 attack on Iran to the United States taxpayer was $180,000,000, or 180 million dollars.
$180 million overboard: The US Navy aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman lost of three F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets to a string of mishaps while confronting the Houthis which are estimated to cost roughly $60 million apiece.
Trumps pathetic military birthday parade: The military parade is estimated to cost between $25 million and $45 million, with the latest estimate being around $40 million. This cost includes expenses for the parade itself, but does not cover potential cleanup or damage to city streets.
Doge: As of May, DOGE says, it has saved $170 Billion in federal spending. This amounts to only 17 percent of the $1 trillion goal, and 8.5 percent of Musk's $2 trillion "best-case” outcome. But there is a cost to the cuts. An estimate from a nonpartisan research and advocacy group estimating that DOGE's actions will cost $135 Billion this fiscal year., which means the actual cost savings will only be 35 Billion of a 6 TRILLION dollar budget.
According to the Pete Peterson foundation, defense spending by the United States accounted for nearly 40 percent of all military expenditures by countries around the world in 2024. In 2024, the United States spent $997 Billion on defense, which is more than the next nine countries’ spending combined. In comparison, China, which is the second biggest defense spender, spent only $314 Billion on military expenditures in 2024.
Of course, America can expect another surge of homelessness if Trump's bill becomes law as expected. One high estimate of the cost of providing housing to everyone in America, based on average median cost of rent, is only $30 Billion, the cost of one KC-46A Tanker.
None of this includes the damage that Trump's team intends to do to Social Security, based on implementation of Project 2025.
The desperate American people can expect to see many more citizens suffering from homelessness, lack of medical care, and lack of food. Military spending must be decreased to prevent a very ugly collapse of the American Empire, but since we know that military spending will continue at the expense of the populace, we should understand that we have entered an age of despair and destruction.