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The High Cost of Defense Spending in the U.S.
Lawrence J. Korb argues for reining in defense spending in this Washington Post letter to the editor.
There are at least four reasons why David S. Broder should have included defense spending in his July 15 op-ed column, "Glimmers of hope on the budget crisis."
First, the baseline defense budget (not including war costs) has grown in inflation-adjusted terms for 13 straight years. Between fiscal 1998 and 2011, it rose from $271 billion to $580 billion, an increase of 114 percent (63 percent in inflation-adjusted terms), and the U.S. share of global military spending jumped from one-third to one-half.
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