The Congressional Budget Office points US spending priorities towards “great power” conflict: Part One
By
Nancy Hanover
18 January 2019
A report published by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in December invokes explicitly, for the first time, the shift to “great power” conflicts in making a case for the growth of military funding.
Explaining the ever-escalating military budget, it states, “the most recent Nuclear Posture Review, released in 2018, concludes that the geopolitical environment has deteriorated markedly since the last Nuclear Posture Review in 2010 and that the world has returned to a state of ‘Great Power’ competition.”
While the document provides suggestions for massive cuts in social programs to address the $778 billion US debt, “Options for Reducing the Deficit: 2019 to 2028” makes the case that any reduction to military funding would potentially undermine the American ability to conduct war.
It warns, “the Army has soldiers in more than 140 countries, all four military services are buying highly sophisticated military weaponry to fight against Russia or China, and DoD [Department of Defense] is modernizing all elements of its nuclear forces”—initiatives which they opine could be compromised by any infringement on military spending.
The CBO, which claims to be above politics, states that in line with the “increasing assertiveness with which Russia and China conduct foreign relations,” the world “appears to be entering an era of renewed competition between major powers.” The CBO is rehashing the incessant US propaganda proclaiming Russia to be a military juggernaut menacing its neighbors although the country spent $66.3 billion on its military in 2017, little more than one-tenth what the US spends every year. In…