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Pros And Cons Of Increasing Military Spending

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Following the controversial win of this year’s presidential election, President Donald Trump’s initiates his first budget proposal to be increasing military spending. More explicitly, he not only seeks to see a sharp $56 billion-dollar increase in military spending, but also to cut funding from nonmilitary programs such as education, poverty and the environment to name a few. This increase might not seem like much considering that some can arguable say that an increase of military spending can create more job opportunity and that protecting our nation at all cost should be National Security first priority. However, if the bigger picture is being looked at, funding from many government assistant programs like Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security …show more content…

It is true that large military spending will contribute growth in the economy in a short term. It will bring more job opportunities to citizens who are directly involved in both the military and military-related fields. Not only that, but a large amount of assisting jobs will be supplied as well. For example, if a new military uniform making factory opens, it not only supplies jobs for the people working in that factory, but also supplies jobs for the people working on the cotton field and even the people who is a part of the transportation and distribution of the uniforms themselves and the materials needed to make them. Furthermore, it increases the employment rate instantly and significantly. Another reason one could argue for the increase of military spending is that if we maintain high military spending it can increase our nations defense capability, and after all, it is said that national defense should be our nation’s number one concern. This is so because it’s obvious that the more money government spends on the army, the better weapons, the better training and ultimately the better army it will be. They can protect their citizens better allowing them to live in safer condition without having to fear about themselves and their families well beings. Thus, satisfied citizens will put more effort into their works …show more content…

These people are supposed to work harder and more efficient because they believe the government has their back. Even though there seems to be many reasons to believe that higher military spending will bring a better life to people in a short term, the long run of high defense spending may impede growth and development. More precisely, high military spending tends to neglect the economy’s ability meet people’s basic needs, such as food, housing, and medical services. This can be seen first-hand with trumps budget proposal. His plan, in return for the increase on military spending, is for the same amount of money to be cut from other various government and federal programming. “Trump's budget would cut off funding entirely for several agencies, including arts, public broadcasting and development groups, and proposes steep cuts to agencies like the State Department and Environmental Protection Agency ”, says CNN. “Virtually every agency will see some sort of cut, with only Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs getting a boost,” they added. Cutting funding from everyday needed aid programs can make the government appear to cares less about the life of their citizens and more about how to make a better weapon. One example is North Korea, despite being a developing country with lower incomes

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