Wednesday, October 01, 2008

John Robb :
it's very likely that the US security budget will be half of what it is today in as little as five years.


Which if you think about it, is quite a significant change. He thinks it will put a million people out of work. It will certainly shift the balance of military power in the world.

1 comment:

Oli said...

I'm not convinced at all on this.

It's true that the US security budget will likely shrink over the next administration - but a lot of that will come as a direct result of withdrawing 50,000 to 100,000 troups 'out of theatre'.

Overall, the US military industrial complex is a great Keynesian tool for propping up the economy. In the middle of this threat of massive recession it wouldn't make much sense to use this tool less.

However, an army in action is an army consuming oil and other resources. So, if you want to cut the budget you don't sack the people you just get them all to go home and stay still for a bit.