The United States in fiscal year 2015 will spend approximately $813.9 billion on defense, according to usgovernmentspending.com. If anything, that number probably understates the true cost, and most certainly the legacy cost of our soldiers who are involved in logistics, skirmishes, wars, and whatnot in foreign lands. The amount of money that is spent to defend the United States is completely out-of-control and completely unnecessary as there are no credible threats against American national security whatsoever, nor is there are credible threat against America in the near future.
While it is one thing to have the troops, resources, and budget to protect America on America's shores, it is an entirely different thing, to protect international corporations, foreign countries which have friendly relations with America, and to be in general, the world's policeman and military governing force throughout the entire world. America has a significant amount of troops in Germany, Japan, and South Korea, in which these countries are more than capable of protecting their own without the need of our aid or personnel. So too does America have bases all over the entire world, including such countries as Great Britain, Spain, and Italy, of which each of these countries could simply take over these bases, as is. Additionally, the United States has at least ten aircraft carriers which are deployed around the world, ever ready, to do battle in order to protect American interests abroad.
While it certainly makes sense for the United States to want to hold onto certain bases throughout the world, especially ones of strong strategic importance, the more that the United States gets involved in foreign meddling and influence, the more monies, personnel, and danger that we put our soldiers into. According to cato.org: "The United States has over 200,000 troops stationed in 144 countries and territories. At any given time, it usually has another 20,000 sailors and Marines deployed afloat on Navy ships." This is an absolutely stupefying amount of personnel that are overseas for no good reason, especially given that America has good relations with every major country in the world, and that therefore the chances of any truly global war are absolutely minimal.
America has placed itself into serious debt in order to provide both "guns and butter" to its citizens, but in reality, it is a deceitful lie to the American people. The American people are on the hook for this unserviceable debt, under the misimpression that the tremendous monies spent on our military is for the "defense" of America, which it most certainly is not. The monies that are spend on our defense budget, are primarily monies spent to service the military-industrial complex, the grandiose dreams of an empire, the lust for global power, and as unpaid protection money and personnel for well connected international corporations.
Our defense budget as it stands today could be seriously slashed by significant double-digit numbers with the world and America being better off because of it, if we simply divested ourselves of unnecessary troops and foreign bases throughout the world. The United States is the signature member of the United Nations as well as of NATO, to which the United States would do its own country a massive service, it instead of trying to pretend it should be responsible for the entire world military security, truly shared that responsibility with its fellow member nations.