It is ironic that people complain of the high cost of defense. If war making were made cheaper would wars then be easier to order? SUpply and demand; market economics, should bring the cost of war down so every nation couod afford one yet it hasn’t fortunately.
The U.S.A. still ought to get more value from its defense budget since discretionary spending comprises such a small portion of the federal budget and national debt is about 19 trillion, 900 billion dollars.
War is definitely costly to prepare for these days. Defending against nuclear, biological and chemical weapons threats plus terrorism is expensive and requires a lot of science. I feel the volunteer military should have lower wages and be supplemented with a draft so everyone contributes public service as they should in a democracy.
If the U.S.A. can get on good terms and work together with Russia that would be about the only practical political innovation feasible presently to reduce the cost of defense-as it did after the end of the cold war for a while. Otherwise, getting synergy on defense projects with more direct civilian applications would be a good approach that’s underutilized.
An example would be building a fresh water making border security canal instead of a wall on the US-Mexico border. Salt-water from the Pacific would be siphoned uphill with solar power and flow downhill each direction from the continental divide. The water would evaporate in the canals and be condensed under plastic or glass and collected.
Garrison Gibson: books and blog 