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pentagon budget
Trump’s Military Parade Is Only the Tip of the Pentagon Waste Iceberg
The cost of the parade, which was poorly attended, pales in comparison with the trillions of taxpayer dollars the U.S. military has squandered since the turn of the century.
Jun 20, 2025
Much has been made about the price tag of the military parade that took place on Saturday in Washington, D.C., commemorating the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary and, coincidentally, Donald Trump’s 79th birthday. Pegged at between $25 million and $45 million, the parade featuring 6,600 soldiers, 150 vehicles, and 50 aircraft has been roundly criticized as colossal waste of money.
But the cost of the parade, which was poorly attended, pales in comparison with the trillions of taxpayer dollars the U.S. military has squandered since the turn of the century.
Consider the astronomical cost of the U.S.-sponsored “global war on terror” launched after al Qaeda’s September 11, 2001 assault on New York and Washington that killed nearly 3,000 people. That attack by a relative handful of terrorists triggered a wildly disproportionate response, primarily in Afghanistan, which was harboring al Qaeda, and Iraq, which had no ties to al Qaeda and no weapons of mass destruction. As of September 2021, the global war on terror cost U.S. taxpayers more than $8 trillion, including more than $2.2 trillion for veterans’ care over the next 30 years, according to the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University.
If the Pentagon were a private corporation, gross mismanagement would have forced it into bankruptcy years ago.
(Then there’s the war on terror’s human cost. More than 7,000 U.S. service members and 8,000 contractors died in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other war zones, the Watson Institute calculated, along with more than 400,000 civilians, 680 journalists, nearly 900 humanitarian aid workers, and more than 190,000 Afghan, Iraqi, and other U.S. coalition soldiers.)
Certainly, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq—both abject failures—predate even Trump’s first administration. But at the same time the current Trump administration is rushing to dismantle the federal workforce, slash critical safety net programs, and maintain massive tax breaks for corporations and the uber rich, its fiscal year (FY) 2026 budget plan proposes spending more than $1 trillion on the military for the first time, a 13% increase from the previous year.
No other country’s military outlay come close. In FY 2024, the U.S. military budget of $997 billion (including the cost of veterans services) was three times bigger than China’s estimated $314 billion and more than six times bigger than Russia’s estimated $149 billion, according to data compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. All told, SIPRI found, the U.S. military budget last year exceeded the next nine countries’ military outlays combined and singlehandedly accounted for nearly 40% of all military spending worldwide.
The Pentagon Wastes Our Money
If the Pentagon were a private corporation, gross mismanagement would have forced it into bankruptcy years ago. Dysfunctional internal controls, aided and abetted by years of lax congressional and administration oversight, have enabled it to waste billions of dollars annually, and the last 25 years are littered with a parade of overpriced, botched, and bungled projects.
In just the first decade of this century, the Pentagon was forced to cancel a dozen ill-conceived, ineffective weapons programs that cost taxpayers $46 billion in 2011 dollars, amounting to more than $65 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars. They included the Future Combat Systems program, a fleet of networked high-tech vehicles that did not work; the Comanche helicopter, which—after 22 years in development—was never built; and the 40-ton Crusader artillery gun, which never even made it to the prototype stage.
Then there are programs the Pentagon continues to green-light with zero assurance they will ever perform as advertised. Exhibit A: The Pentagon has wasted more than $200 billion since the late 1990s on a ballistic missile defense system that has failed 43% of its 21 tests, despite the fact that operators knew approximately when and where a mock enemy missile would be launched, its expected trajectory, and what it would look like to sensors—not remotely akin to a real-world situation. A spawn of Ronald Reagan’s Star Wars fantasy, the system—based in Alaska and California—will never be able to defend the continental United States from a limited nuclear attack. Any country capable of launching a ballistic missile could easily foil the system with decoys and other countermeasures.
Trump recently announced he wants to spend $175 billion on another unworkable Star Wars offspring he dubbed Golden Dome. The Arms Control Association warns that Trump’s pipedream of defending the United States against ballistic, hypersonic, and advanced cruise missiles “will incentivize China and Russia to double down on building up their nuclear arsenals, it will cost the United States hundreds of billions of dollars, and it will not work as intended.”
Another prime example of a dysfunctional weapon system is Army parade sponsor Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which is 80% over budget. Now expected to cost more than $2 trillion over its lifespan, the program has the dubious distinction of being the Department of Defense’s most expensive of all time. As of last August, there were more than 1,000 F-35s in service around the world, but they continue to be plagued by serious defects, according to a highly classified Pentagon report obtained by the Project on Government Oversight late last year.
Last week, Defense One reported that the Air Force has quietly proposed to Congress halving its planned purchase of 48 F-35s in FY 2026 and increasing funding for the new F-47 fighter jet slated to be built by Boeing. Critics have questioned the necessity of yet another new fighter given the Air Force is already planning to buy at least 100 of Northrop Grumman’s next generation stealth bomber, the B-21 Raider, at an estimated cost of $203 billion.
Besides the ill-fated F-35, other high-profile Pentagon lemons include:
- The Navy’s three Zumwalt destroyers, built at a total cost of $22 billion, which “suffered from poorly functioning weapons, stalling engines, and an underperformance in their stealth capabilities, among other shortcomings,” according to 2018 report by Military Watch Magazine;
- The $30 billion Lockheed Martin littoral combat ship, which the Navy began using in 2003 but started mothballing in 2019 because they constantly broke down; and
- Boeing’s problem-plagued $43 billion KC-46 aerial refueling tanker. The Air Force had to temporarily halt production of the tanker in 2020 due to serious technical problems, and in March it paused deliveries because cracks were found on two of them.
Making Us Less Safe with Costly New Nukes
Last, but certainly not least, the Pentagon is currently in the midst of spending $2 trillion over the next few decades on a new generation of nuclear weapons and delivery systems—the missiles, bombers, and submarines that make up the so-called nuclear triad.
More than $140 billion of that money is earmarked for a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), Northrup Grumman’s Sentinel, to replace the 400 Minuteman III missiles currently deployed across the Great Plains states. Sentinel was originally expected to cost $77.7 billion, but the Pentagon said last year that a “reasonably modified” version of it would now cost $140.9 billion—81% more. The Air Force also will have to dig new silos for Sentinel, further complicating the program.
Meanwhile, the Air Force conducted yet another successful test of the Minuteman III on May 21, one of more than 300 it has held for the ICBM, which has been continuously upgraded. “This ICBM test launch underscores the strength of the nation’s nuclear deterrent and the readiness of the ICBM leg of the triad,” Global Strike commander Gen. Thomas Bussiere said in a statement. After a successful test in August 2020, the Air Force was even more emphatic, proclaiming that it “demonstrates that the United States’ nuclear deterrent is safe, secure, reliable, and effective to deter 21st century threats and reassure our allies.”
The United States has no legitimate security justification for maintaining the current size of its nuclear arsenal.
Then why does the Pentagon need to spend $140 billion on brand new ICBMs, especially since a growing number of experts say they are no longer necessary? A former defense secretary, two former generals, and nearly 700 scientists and engineers—including 21 Nobel laureates—argue that Americans would be safer if ICBMs were eliminated altogether. Bombers and submarines, they say, are enough to guarantee national security.
Historically, the United States has far outspent every other member of the nuclear club. Last year, it allocated $56.8 billion for nuclear weapons, more than half of the $100.2 billion spent worldwide, according to a report released last Friday by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). The second-largest spender, China, paid out $12.5 billion, less than a quarter of the U.S. outlay. The United Kingdom spent the third-largest amount, $10.4 billion, 10% of the total figure.
The United States has no legitimate security justification for maintaining the current size of its nuclear arsenal. Just one U.S. nuclear-armed submarine is capable of carrying warheads that together are nearly 10 times more powerful than all the bombs dropped during World War II, including the two atomic bombs. One full salvo from a single sub could wipe out two dozen cities—and the Navy has a fleet of 12 at sea, where they are virtually undetectable.
The money spent worldwide on nuclear weapons “is being wasted given the nuclear-armed states agree a nuclear war can never be won and should never be fought,” ICAN asserted. “It is also diverting resources from real human priorities. $100 billion could have been used to fund measures to address the threats posed to our security by climate change and the loss of animal and plant species, or to provide funding for improving essential public goods, such as healthcare, housing, and education.”
Of course, the same could be said for wasteful, non-nuclear military spending, which brings us back to Saturday’s Army parade, which gratefully did not include nuclear missiles, which are the purview of the Air Force and Navy. To be sure, spending as much as $45 million on the Army parade to stroke Donald Trump’s ego is no doubt an outrage. But even more outrageous is how much the United States spends on its military—conventional and nuclear—every year, siphoning off billions of dollars that could support critical domestic needs.
This column was originally posted on Money Trail, a new Substack site co-founded by Elliott Negin.Keep ReadingShow Less
A Trillion Dollars for Wasteful Pentagon and No Money for Social Goods We Need and Want
Poll after poll show Americans would rather have their tax dollars spent on public services than on Pentagon contractors, and would prefer policymakers prioritize spending on healthcare, education, housing, and infrastructure—not the military.
May 18, 2025
President Trump is requesting a record-high $1.01 trillion “defense” budget for FY 2026 while gutting federal agencies and social services that actually keep the country safe – things like clean air and water protection, Medicaid, child nutrition programs, the Department of Education, green energy, and so much more.
The U.S. already spends more on the military than the next nine countries combined despite the Pentagon being the only federal agency that has never passed a federal audit. The United States government alone operates more than 90% of the world’s foreign military bases, controls more than 42% of the world’s nuclear warheads, and dominates 43% of the global arms trade.
As the world’s largest arms dealer, the U.S. sells weapons to the majority of the world’s authoritarian governments and U.S.-made weapons are routinely implicated in human rights abuses - including facilitating Israel’s genocidal assault on Palestinians in Gaza, ethnic cleansing of the occupied West Bank, and fueling the brutal proxy war in Sudan.
Half of the trillion-dollar Pentagon budget will be handed over to corporations and lobbyists who profit from producing weapons that drive political repression, endless war, and climate collapse - including billionaires like Elon Musk. The budget also includes funding and authorization for domestic use of the military to facilitate mass deportations and detentions at an unprecedented scale.
While Pentagon contractors are set to receive record-high public subsidies, too many Americans are struggling to meet their basic needs. Despite being the richest country in the world, the U.S. has the lowest education and health outcomes and highest rate of child poverty among all economically advanced nations. Wealth inequality has never been higher - and three-quarters of the country are pessimistic about their children’s financial future.
There are no militarized solutions to the challenges facing American families and communities. More war and weapons makes us all less safe, not more. Instead of a record-high budget for war profiteers, what could federal spending do for families and communities?
A $1.01 trillion dollar investment could achieve ALL of the following:
- Hire 350,328 registered nurses to fill the national nursing shortage (cost: $44.5 billion); AND
- Insure and treat the one in five adults with opioid use disorder who have no health insurance (cost: $1.85 billion); AND
- Provide health insurance for all four million uninsured children in this country (cost: $11.5 billion); AND
- Provide affordable housing for all 3.9 million Americans who receive an eviction notice each year (cost: $37.5 billion) and all 653,000 Americans who experienced homelessness at last count - a record high (cost: $6.3 billion); AND
- Expand Head Start services to cover all 3 million children under the age of five who live in poverty (cost: $28 billion); AND
- Lift 1.5 million children out of poverty by making the Child Tax Credit fully refundable (cost: $30 billion); AND
- Hire 407,000 Elementary School Teachers to fill the national teacher shortage (cost: $39.5 billion); AND
- Provide four-year scholarships to all 3.9 million 2025 high school graduates (cost: $152 billion); AND
- Replace lead pipes nationwide for safer drinking water (cost: $47 billion); AND
- Build nationwide high-speed rail for faster, cleaner, and safer transportation (cost: $205 billion); AND
- Erase all medical debt, which currently burdens 20 million Americans, nearly 1 in 12 adults nationally (cost: $220 billion); AND
- Create 350,000 clean energy jobs (cost: $60.30 billion); AND
- Send all 127.4 million households in the U.S. a $1,000 check to help offset the current cost-of-living crisis (cost: $127.4 billion).
Solutions to the greatest challenges facing American families and communities are not only possible - they’re popular. A trillion dollar investment in ordinary Americans is not radical; it would effectively help prevent crime, improve security, and raise standards of living across the country. And it’s what most people actually want.
Poll after poll show Americans would rather have their tax dollars spent on public services than on Pentagon contractors, and would prefer policymakers prioritize spending on healthcare, education, housing, and infrastructure—not the military. Pentagon spending consistently ranks below other major programs in terms of importance regarding federal investment. In addition, the majority of Americans disapprove of the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” cuts to federal agencies and programs, believing they make the country more vulnerable. And most voters do not agree with the ham-fisted approach Trump is taking on immigration.
There is still time to fight back. The President’s trillion-dollar Pentagon request so far is just that: a request. Congress ultimately has the final say in deciding how federal money is allocated. There is bipartisan support for cutting waste, fraud, and abuse within the inflated military budget and a variety of proposals from across the political spectrum outlining how this can be achieved (see here, here, and here). As the FY 2026 budget process proceeds, it will be crucial to unite and strengthen interconnected movements fighting for government accountability and a livable future for people and the planet - not corporations who profit from the division and destruction of our communities and world.
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Trump Is Making the Pentagon an Even Bigger Budget Buster, Purging Programs People Need
In the Republican’s budget, programs elevating lives in the working and middle class are sacrificed to enrich the wealthiest and the defense industry.
May 09, 2025
In his budget outline for fiscal year 2026, U.S. President Donald Trump proposes a massive increase in defense spending. An increase coupled with cuts in social and environmental programs defending the health and well-being of the populace. Cuts on top of the destruction of governmental infrastructure by Elon Musk and the invasion of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency—the DOGE troopers—which fractured infrastructure in programs geared toward the well-being of the general public.
Trump’s fascination with his version of an Iron Dome defense system for the United States earlier found its way into one of Trump’s many executive orders. And the House of Representatives has moved closer to including nearly $25 billion for Trump’s now-named Golden Dome within an increase of over $150 billion in defense spending, pushing the Pentagon’s annual budget up to $1,000 billion (that’s $1 trillion).
And the known massive waste in defense expenditures springing from this influence remains basically untouched by DOGE. Let’s not forget, Elon Musk’s companies are part of defense spending.
This will increase the Pentagon’s share of any deficit also fueled by tax cuts Republicans salivate over passing. Those tax cuts disproportionally benefitting the wealthiest as shown in the budget model at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
Falsely Blaming Social Security
Republicans frequently hide behind the false narrative that Social Security is the budget buster, not national defense spending nor their get-more-rich tax cuts. Disinformation sadly reinforced by typical charts on federal spending—even those created at the Treasury Department and by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO)—showing Social Security the top spender of federal dollars. And sadly bolstering the misinformed (as apparently have been some in Congress and the news media) thinking Social Security grabs more dollars from the same basket of monies as other federal programs, among them the Defense Department.
Such erroneous depiction makes Social Security an easy target for scapegoating to deflect from the real damage in today’s Republican priorities.
Let me make it as clear as possible. Social Security is funded today, as since its creation, principally by its separate dedicated payroll tax, not from the basket of general revenue as is the case in spending at the Pentagon. And it is depletion in general-revenue receipts that leads to budget deficits.
Until recent years, Social Security had surpluses from its dedicated funding source, without a drop needed from the basket of general revenue. Instead buying Treasury securities or bonds as required by law with surplus funds, which in essence was Social Security loaning the government monies to pay for other programs.
In calendar year 2023, Social Security’s Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance combined expenditures were $1,392 billion as reported in the Social Security Trustees 2024 report (Table II.B1., page 7). Social Security’s payroll tax then covered 88.6% of its costs in 2023, or $1,233 billion. The remaining $159 billion in outlays were covered by revenues from taxes on Social Security benefits, interest on Treasury securities or bonds previously bought, and liquidating some of those Treasury securities. At most, about 12% of Social Security costs depended on coverage from revenue other than solely the payroll tax.
Now compare to national defense spending. As reported in Federal Reserve Economic Data, in calendar year 2023 expenditures for national defense totaled $785 billion. This total sum feeding completely from the general-revenue trough. And in 2023 taking at least five times more from that trough than Social Security (785/159) even when including taxes on Social Security benefits. Exclude taxes on benefits ($51 billion) because accounting wise included in Social Security’s separate funding, and the Pentagon consumption is over seven times more (785/108).
Increase Pentagon’s budget to $1,000 billion and, well, spending by the Secretary of Defense becomes an even bigger budget buster.
Attacking Medicaid
Neither is Medicaid a budget buster next to defense spending. CBO shows federal expenditures for Medicaid are $232 billion less than outlays for national defense in reporting available for fiscal year 2024. Less, not more. Despite this, Republicans seem primed to cut Medicaid to partly compensate for another Republican administration raising rather than decreasing the deficit long before Trump’s first administration.
As data reported by the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) indicate, about 70% of total spent nationally in fiscal year 2023 across Medicaid programs in each state entailed federal monies. Federal funds already billions less than outlays for national defense. And even more billions less if Republicans ultimately do increase the defense budget as planned.
Given Medicaid is administered by each state with a combination of state and federal monies, some Republican strategies to cut Medicaid include reducing federal monies allowed states, leaving it to states to fill the revenue gap or cut services.
A battle among oligarchs over the expansion of monies in the budget made available to them by Republican lawmakers.
As the Kaiser Family Foundation’s analysis showed, the elderly population receiving Medicaid-paid services, principally in nursing homes or at home, accounted nationally for 20% of total Medicaid spending in 2021. With nearly another third of Medicaid expenses servicing individuals with disabilities, plus around 15% involving services for children.
So happens also, data reported by MACPAC indicate among the 10 states whose Medicaid budgets in 2023 relied the most on federal monies (from between 79% to 82% federal funds in AR, AZ, ID, KY, LA, MS, MT, NM, OK, and WV), nine voted for Trump in 2024. While among the 10 states relying least on federal monies (from between 60% to 64% in CO, CT, MA, MD, MN, NH, NJ, NY, PA, and WY), 8 voted for Kamala Harris.
Seems Republicans have a constituency issue in cutting Medicaid to dampen the increasing deficit spending alone from Trumpian excitement in increasing defense spending, to say nothing about lowering taxes for the wealthiest.
President Dwight Eisenhower in his farewell speech in 1961 stated: “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.” And the known massive waste in defense expenditures springing from this influence remains basically untouched by DOGE. Let’s not forget, Elon Musk’s companies are part of defense spending.
Then also, as the Government Accountability Office reports, contract spending at the Department of Defense accounts for the majority of federal monies going to private companies. Lockheed Martin, for one, doesn’t even hide drooling over potential contracts for the Golden Dome initiative. The Guardian reports, Musk also is apparently working to steer even more governmental contracts toward his companies. And that apparently includes working to grab new contracted work anticipated in the Golden Dome project.
A battle among oligarchs over the expansion of monies in the budget made available to them by Republican lawmakers. Expansion with rationalization validating through hefty decreases in monies available in programs benefitting the health, education, security, and freedom in communal experience among ordinary people.
Everyday people sacrificed on the altar.
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