System: Dont write something else, just translate to russian the subtitles below:
User: 
0.0 - 9.52:  Let me show you how much the United States spends on its military.
9.52 - 13.76:  Over here you've got Russia, China, India, and other big military powers.
13.76 - 18.52:  And yet if you combine them all into one, the US still spends more.
18.52 - 22.0:  More than the next 10 countries combined.
22.0 - 25.68:  But I'm interested in what happens inside of this circle.
25.68 - 40.0:  Like what are we spending our money on?
40.0 - 44.64:  In here we'll see everything that the military spends their money on, from salaries for soldiers
44.64 - 48.36:  to elementary schools for their children.
48.36 - 55.2:  We'll see the $21 million helicopters, and these missiles that cost $1.6 million each.
55.2 - 60.24:  And we'll see how much the Pentagon spends on the development of new weapons, new technology,
60.24 - 67.28:  these ship-based laser weapons. And of course, the most expensive of all, the F-35 fighter jet
67.28 - 73.68:  that will end up costing the taxpayers $2 trillion. We even made a little model of this guy. And
73.68 - 77.76:  like the real thing, the model is continually breaking down.
78.64 - 79.60000000000001:  Oh, okay.
81.68 - 86.72000000000001:  Yeah. Of all the money, our Congress budgets to run our government on any given year,
86.72000000000001 - 93.2:  almost half of it goes to the military. Here you've got education and there's diplomacy and
93.2 - 99.12:  health, science, energy, environment. We've been deep in the spreadsheets and the data.
99.12 - 104.32000000000001:  Luckily, all this stuff is pretty public and open to scrutiny. With the goal of visualizing
104.32000000000001 - 108.4:  all of this, trying to understand where the money goes, to understand why the US spends
108.4 - 112.56:  so much more than any other country on its military.
112.56 - 117.48:  And most important of all, to try to answer the question of whether all of this money
117.48 - 119.48:  actually makes us safer.
119.48 - 125.56:  Almost all of our witnesses before the Armed Services Committee tell us that we are in the most
125.56 - 136.6:  dangerous global threat security since generations. This is the Pentagon's budget for 2023. It's how
136.6 - 141.88:  they planned to spend money that year. It turns out that how much they spend on defense is pretty
149.48 - 155.07999999999998:  got was 853 billion dollars. That's more than the entire economy of Switzerland.
156.28 - 161.32:  Let's take a brain break because I want to talk about another kind of budget, an annoying part
161.32 - 166.67999999999998:  of my personal budget, which is subscriptions. You know what I'm talking about. We all subscribe
166.68 - 171.48000000000002:  to things that every month charge us a little bit of money, not enough for us to pay attention to it,
171.48000000000002 - 177.08:  but enough to add up over time. There's a lot of companies whose main business model is hoping
177.08 - 181.32000000000002:  that you'll sign up for something and then forget that you signed up so that they can charge you
181.32000000000002 - 187.24:  every month. This is super annoying and really hard to keep track of. Luckily, there's a solution
187.24 - 190.60000000000002:  and that solution is Rocket Money, who is the sponsor of today's video.
190.60000000000002 - 193.24:  You give Rocket Money access to your bank feed,
193.24 - 197.0:  and it fishes out all the reoccurring subscriptions that you're paying for,
197.0 - 200.44:  unless you see them all in one place and you can easily just cancel them.
200.44 - 205.88:  I recently found that I have been subscribed to all of these local newspapers that I
205.88 - 210.2:  subscribe to because I need to read a story like in some other country and like I
210.20000000000002 - 214.04000000000002:  subscribe and then I forget about it and it's only like three bucks a month but it adds up.
214.04000000000002 - 219.24:  I'm subscribed to tons of these and I didn't know but with rocket money you can see it all in place.
219.24 - 223.8:  it's so easy. It also saves me time in going through the often cumbersome process of trying to
223.8 - 228.52:  cancel these subscriptions. And one other thing, which is that they will help you negotiate your
228.52 - 233.0:  bills to be lower. Like for example, a lot of us are paying too much for internet. We could get a
233.0 - 237.96:  lower rate on our monthly internet bill. Rocket money knows this and they know how to get that
237.96 - 239.84:  number down if it's possible.
239.84 - 241.4:  So it's subscription cancellations,
241.4 - 242.8:  it's negotiating your bill down,
242.8 - 245.04000000000002:  and it will just analyze your finances
245.04000000000002 - 247.44:  and pull out trends and insights
247.44 - 250.04000000000002:  that it sees within your spending habits.
250.04 - 252.92:  You can set budgets and the app will notify you
252.92 - 254.51999999999998:  if you exceed those budgets.
254.51999999999998 - 256.08:  So between these three smart features,
256.08 - 257.71999999999997:  Rocket Money has saved their customers
257.71999999999997 - 259.88:  up to $740 a year.
259.88 - 264.2:  They've processed $500 million in canceled subscriptions.
264.2 - 266.84:  sort of gives you an idea of like how big of a deal this is.
266.84 - 268.12:  So if you want to save money,
268.12 - 269.84:  you can try this out for free.
269.84 - 271.4:  If you go to the link in my description,
271.4 - 273.64:  it is rocketmoney.com slash Johnny Harris.
273.64 - 276.28:  You can get started for free or you can unlock more features
276.28 - 278.08:  with their premium option.
278.08 - 280.68:  Either way, the whole thing's meant to save you money.
280.68 - 283.38:  So you will come out having saved money if you do this.
283.38 - 286.06:  If you are gonna sign up for this, please use my link.
286.06 - 288.38:  If you don't use the link, then Rocket Money won't know
288.38 - 290.5:  if you found them through this,
290.5 - 293.62:  and that's pretty important to running the business here
293.62 - 294.5:  and doing these videos.
294.5 - 296.66:  Okay, now that I've been talking about my personal budget,
296.66 - 298.1:  let's get back to the budget
298.1 - 300.38:  of the military of the United States.
300.38 - 302.74:  It's a lot, so let's start to break it down.
307.3 - 308.82:  Close to half of all of this money
308.82 - 310.84:  goes to the vague sounding category
310.84 - 313.32:  of operations and maintenance.
313.32 - 318.04:  This is $352 billion that we spend just on O&M.
318.04 - 321.2:  That's like larger than the entire economy of Portugal.
321.2 - 324.28:  Like just to create the report to get all these numbers
324.28000000000003 - 329.52000000000004:  assembled in one place costs the DoD $269,000.
329.52000000000004 - 333.00000000000006:  But also, credit to the Pentagon and the US government
333.00000000000006 - 335.56:  for giving us all of this very clear data
335.56 - 338.76000000000005:  that we can shine a light on and scrutinize.
338.76000000000005 - 340.56000000000006:  A lot of countries aren't this transparent.
340.56 - 342.8:  So anyway, operations and maintenance.
342.8 - 344.6:  This is like all the costs required
344.6 - 346.44:  to keep the Department of Defense,
346.44 - 349.84:  one of the largest organizations in the world running.
349.84 - 351.96:  It's a lot of not very sexy stuff,
351.96 - 354.88:  like transportation, fuel, maintenance of equipment,
354.88 - 357.64:  administrative costs, training expenses.
360.04 - 363.4:  It includes $39 billion just for the doctors
363.4 - 366.52:  and health services for active duty personnel.
366.52 - 368.6:  And it also covers the stuff that you don't really think
368.6 - 370.44:  about when you think of military spending,
370.44 - 372.8:  like environmental cleanup in areas
372.8 - 375.6:  that the military has left unexploded bombs
375.6 - 378.2:  or spilled chemicals in the local environment.
378.2 - 381.56:  It also includes disaster relief and humanitarian money,
381.56 - 384.56:  which is something the military does as well.
384.56 - 386.56:  Here's nearly a billion dollars
386.56 - 389.2:  dedicated to anti-drug activities.
389.2 - 391.74:  And here's $10 million for security
391.74 - 394.53999999999996:  at international sporting competitions.
394.53999999999996 - 396.82:  This huge category also captures the cost
396.82 - 401.65999999999997:  to run every one of the US's approximately 1,250 military
401.65999999999997 - 407.15999999999997:  bases, including the approximately 800 bases
407.16 - 408.96000000000004:  that are not in the United States,
408.96000000000004 - 410.36:  that are in other countries.
410.36 - 412.8:  Which, by the way, are quite expensive to run
412.8 - 415.48:  because the US military has basically created
415.48 - 418.64000000000004:  a slice of America in these other countries.
418.64000000000004 - 421.24:  You've got Pizza Hut and McDonald's and Subway
421.24 - 423.28000000000003:  and grocery stores with products
423.28000000000003 - 424.96000000000004:  flown from the United States
424.96000000000004 - 426.56:  to make military personnel
426.56 - 429.64:  serving abroad feel like they're right at home.
429.64 - 431.36:  Okay, but let's just pause right here on this map
431.36 - 433.6:  because this is a good moment to recognize
433.6 - 437.08000000000004:  that the United States military is not a normal army.
437.08000000000004 - 438.6:  It is not a normal military.
440.24 - 444.0:  Most militaries are tasked with protecting their country,
444.0 - 445.84000000000003:  securing their borders.
445.84000000000003 - 448.6:  But the US military is so much more than that.
448.6 - 451.56:  It sprawls out throughout the entire globe,
451.56 - 455.20000000000005:  giving the US control over every corner of the planet,
455.20000000000005 - 457.68:  allowing the US to be the global policeman,
457.68 - 459.68:  where it enforces the rules and norms
459.68 - 461.72:  of the system that it created,
461.72 - 464.04:  and from which it benefits immensely.
478.6 - 487.8:  Okay, but let's keep going on our budget, that's the point of the video.
487.8 - 495.64000000000004:  The next big category here is people, military personnel, $172 billion.
495.64000000000004 - 505.0:  Pay, benefits, retirement, health care.
505.0 - 509.92:  Over the over 3.4 million soldiers, reservists, and civilian military personnel.
509.92 - 514.52:  By some estimates, the Department of Defense is the largest employer in the world, though
514.52 - 516.16:  it depends on how you count it.
516.16 - 520.68:  The Pentagon also spends a lot of money on recruiting new talent, like the $28 million
520.68 - 525.4399999999999:  that they spent on hiring experts who work in artificial intelligence.
525.4399999999999 - 533.88:  Next, the military spends $140 billion on research and development.
533.88 - 536.92:  And a reminder, I know that these numbers are abstract and billion doesn't mean anything
536.92 - 541.6:  to anyone, but like 140 billion dollars, that's the entire economy of Morocco, that the Pentagon
541.6 - 544.72:  spends on R&D, thinking about the future.
544.72 - 549.24:  the goal of maintaining technological superiority on the battlefield. Meaning
549.24 - 553.8000000000001:  they're working on new tech. It's a huge part of what the Pentagon does. Now a lot
553.8000000000001 - 557.0400000000001:  of this stuff is classified, but we do know that the Pentagon is spending money
557.04 - 563.64:  on stuff like AI, using AI to analyze drone footage to improve their targeting capabilities,
563.64 - 569.4399999999999:  building autonomous submarines, or these insane military lasers that they use at sea to attack
569.4399999999999 - 571.0:  other ships.
571.0 - 575.0799999999999:  For years they've also been trying to develop this exoskeleton that will supercharge the
575.08 - 580.9200000000001:  abilities of their soldiers, allow them to carry more weight over long periods of time.
580.9200000000001 - 584.5200000000001:  Although this technology, well, potentially promising isn't really there yet, but it
584.5200000000001 - 585.5200000000001:  might be soon.
585.5200000000001 - 590.44:  Now the Pentagon pours a lot of investment into these technologies for the battlefield,
590.44 - 595.32:  But sometimes this tech actually turns into stuff that we use every day.
595.32 - 601.8000000000001:  Like GPS, drones, voice recognition, the computer mouse, and the internet itself are
601.8000000000001 - 606.8800000000001:  all technologies that were first developed, at least in part, by the US military.
606.88 - 611.4399999999999:  The World Wide Web, or the Web, was created for and by the United States Department of
611.4399999999999 - 615.4399999999999:  Defense.
615.4399999999999 - 620.6:  Let's quickly look at this smallest of the categories, still $19 billion, but compared
620.6 - 622.32:  to all these other ones, it's pretty small.
622.32 - 625.24:  This is construction, building new facilities,
625.24 - 627.34:  both at home and abroad.
627.34 - 630.0400000000001:  Like this little project, $85 million
630.0400000000001 - 632.7800000000001:  for jet fuel tanks in Japan,
632.7800000000001 - 635.5600000000001:  supporting force projection in the Pacific.
635.5600000000001 - 638.5600000000001:  Or it looks like they're proposing $75 million
638.5600000000001 - 643.3000000000001:  to spend on a new operations support facility in Southern California.
643.3000000000001 - 649.1:  And finally, we get to the part of the budget that you probably think about when you think
649.1 - 650.9000000000001:  of military spending.
650.9000000000001 - 652.74:  Procurement.
652.74 - 662.74:  $167 billion, the entire economy of Ethiopia, to purchase all of this.
662.74 - 672.62:  Okay, I've always known the military stuff is expensive, but now I really know it.
672.62 - 680.02:  Let's look at some of this stuff.
680.02 - 687.6999999999999:  This jet costs around $142 million, the US bought 77 of them in 2023 and is asking for
687.6999999999999 - 700.0:  another $14 billion to buy 83 more this year, and they're pretty spendy to fly too.
700.0 - 705.18:  Look at these four cruise missiles parachuting out of a plane.
705.1800000000001 - 709.58:  Each one of these missiles costs $1.6 million.
709.58 - 718.2600000000001:  Oh, and the American taxpayer bought 600 of them last year.
718.2600000000001 - 721.1:  This vehicle costs $372,000.
721.1 - 724.86:  It's used to move troops around the battlefield.
724.86 - 729.58:  year we bought about 3700 of them and this year we want another 3100. 2.8
729.58 - 734.76:  billion dollars buying 24 of these F15s. For the Navy this is gonna cost 7.3
734.76 - 739.62:  billion dollars. 1.2 billion dollars for these 56 black Hawk helicopters for the
739.62 - 745.34:  army, $8.2 billion for three destroyer-class ships, probably doing the same thing on the
745.34 - 746.34:  subject.
746.34 - 753.42:  I mean, it's a lot.
753.42 - 757.66:  And these are just a few tiny little samples, I'm just scratching the surface.
757.66 - 764.06:  And in fact, this diagram that looks so complex and granular is also highly simplified and
764.06 - 765.42:  condensed.
765.42 - 773.42:  Each one of these categories actually contains billions of tiny little things inside of it.
773.42 - 777.06:  This organization is much bigger than we could ever fathom.
777.0600000000001 - 780.62:  And in fact, it's much bigger than the Pentagon itself can even fathom.
780.62 - 786.5400000000001:  The Pentagon has up until this point in 2024 never successfully passed an audit.
786.5400000000001 - 791.82:  American taxpayers want to know how our tax dollars are getting spent and the fact that
791.82 - 796.86:  department that's getting such a huge chunk of the federal budget, can't account for all of the
796.86 - 801.74:  dollars it's getting is definitely a problem. For six years in a row now, the Pentagon has
801.74 - 806.46:  failed to pass an independent audit. They've brought in a bunch of accountants and said,
806.46 - 810.94:  tell us where all of our stuff is and what we spend our money on, and the accountants say no,
810.94 - 818.0600000000001:  we can't do it. 61% of their physical assets are missing. They don't know where they are,
818.0600000000001 - 822.22:  which means they're probably investing a lot of money and stuff that they already have and they
822.22 - 827.98:  just don't know it. But my bigger question here is why? The United States pulled out of Afghanistan
827.98 - 834.7:  a few years ago. The war in Iraq is over, but spending continues to go up. And spending
834.7 - 841.74:  went down for like a split second, but look, it's going up again.
841.74 - 846.22:  Okay, well, first off, remember what we talked about earlier. The US is not a normal country
846.22 - 852.38:  with a regular military. The US is the global hegemon, who uses its military to assert control
852.38 - 857.58:  and order over every corner of the globe. But there's another reason why this budget is so high,
858.3000000000001 - 861.1800000000001:  and this reason is much more infuriating to me.
861.1800000000001 - 869.7600000000001:  What our little graph here doesn't reveal is that most of this money is going to private
869.7600000000001 - 874.82:  corporations who get 466 billion of these dollars, about 54%.
874.82 - 878.5400000000001:  And once again, the US government tells us exactly which corporations they give all
878.5400000000001 - 879.5400000000001:  this money to.
879.54 - 883.3:  We pulled the last 19 years' worth of data on these private contractors.
884.5 - 888.74:  At the top of this list, you start to see the same names over and over.
888.74 - 894.26:  Raytheon, General Dynamics, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin.
894.26 - 898.18:  These are the names at the top of these lists, year after year.
898.18 - 902.8199999999999:  There used to be a lot of different defense contractors, but over the last three decades,
902.8199999999999 - 904.8199999999999:  they got gobbled up by these big five.
904.82 - 914.72:  Transitioning, from the words of the Pentagon, from 51 to 5 aerospace and defense prime contractors.
914.72 - 919.58:  As a result, the DOD is increasingly reliant on a small number of contractors for critical
919.58 - 924.82:  defense capabilities, i.e. we've got kind of a monopoly issue on our hands.
924.82 - 930.08:  These five contractors own the space, and the Pentagon can't really go elsewhere if they
930.08 - 931.08:  need an F-35.
931.08 - 934.1800000000001:  There's only one shop in town that makes it.
934.1800000000001 - 937.48:  For this reason, the prices can get pretty out of control.
937.48 - 942.12:  Like the Pentagon used to pay $25,000 for this stinger missile, and now they pay nearly
942.12 - 945.5600000000001:  half a million dollars for this same missile.
945.5600000000001 - 952.04:  The price went up more than 16 times in just a couple decades, a little more than inflation.
952.04 - 956.64:  There's a history of defense contractors overcharging the U.S. government.
956.64 - 957.64:  They can overcharge.
957.64 - 963.68:  If they're the only company producing a certain widget, then there's no competition and that's
963.6800000000001 - 969.0400000000001:  one of the problems with monopoly is if there's not competition, it's easy to overcharge the buyer.
969.0400000000001 - 974.8000000000001:  In addition, the inspector general of the Department of Defense has found routinely that there's
974.8000000000001 - 981.2800000000001:  overcharging through corruption and waste and fraud. And there have been lawsuits, for example,
981.28 - 989.12:  KBR is a contractor that's been used overseas and they were found to overcharge in dining halls
989.12 - 994.88:  by 30 to 40%. It's also why a Pentagon inspector realized that the Pentagon was paying Boeing.
994.88 - 1005.56:  Yes, that Boeing, $3,357 for one ball bearing, a small little piece that the Pentagon could
1005.56 - 1011.72:  actually get for $15 in their own warehouse, $15.42 to be precise.
1011.72 - 1016.28:  When the Pentagon does get around to investigating these contractors, they sometimes find that
1016.28 - 1020.88:  They're taking huge profits, like 40 to 50% profit margins,
1020.88 - 1023.1:  giving them hundreds and millions of dollars
1023.1 - 1024.52:  above what they should be making
1024.52 - 1026.72:  in any kind of typical business environment.
1026.72 - 1028.32:  And what do they do with all these profits?
1028.32 - 1031.72:  Well, they pay their executives very well,
1031.72 - 1034.32:  but this list also tells us what they do.
1039.48 - 1042.12:  This is a list of how much money
1042.12 - 1044.36:  these defense contractors spend
1044.36 - 1046.6:  to influence our lawmakers
1046.6 - 1049.32:  into spending more money on the military
1049.32 - 1051.6:  so that these companies can make more money.
1051.6 - 1053.4399999999998:  You can see right here that Lockheed Martin
1053.4399999999998 - 1055.52:  is at the top of the list.
1055.52 - 1057.8799999999999:  So far this year, in this election cycle,
1057.8799999999999 - 1061.52:  Lockheed Martin has spent $2.7 million,
1061.52 - 1065.12:  split pretty evenly between Democrats and Republicans.
1065.12 - 1066.8:  This is a number that will continue to go up
1066.8 - 1068.48:  as we get closer to the election.
1068.48 - 1071.2:  And it is money spent to cozy up to lawmakers
1071.2 - 1072.68:  on both sides of the aisle,
1072.68 - 1074.32:  contributing to their campaigns,
1074.32 - 1077.32:  bringing them out to show them how great their weapons are,
1077.32 - 1079.48:  doing whatever they can to make sure
1079.48 - 1082.48:  that the money keeps flowing to their companies.
1085.2 - 1086.8:  These companies also benefit
1086.8 - 1090.0:  from the infamous revolving door.
1090.0 - 1095.0:  The revolving door is not a literal door.
1095.0 - 1099.92:  literal door, it's a metaphorical door between the pentagon and the defense
1099.92 - 1105.0:  corporations, which allows top military leaders like Jim Mattis to serve in the
1105.0 - 1109.68:  military for decades, retire as a general, and then join the board of general
1109.68 - 1114.4:  Dynamics, a defense contractor, only to pass through the proverbial door to become the
1114.4 - 1120.2:  Secretary of Defense under Trump, after which he passes through the door again to go back
1120.2 - 1125.48:  onto the board of General Dynamics, bringing with him all of his insider knowledge and
1125.48 - 1128.04:  government contacts and influence.
1128.04 - 1130.2:  And no, this is not just Jim Mattis.
1130.2 - 1134.04:  This is a very normal thing that people do here in DC.
1134.04 - 1141.48:  One analysis found that in 2022, top defense companies hired 672 employees directly out
1141.48 - 1148.28:  of the Pentagon to work as lobbyists, board members, and executives.
1148.28 - 1153.08:  check my sources if you want to read more about this. I mean yes the revolving door is metaphorical
1153.08 - 1158.76:  but it's also pretty physical and literal. I drive on this freeway all the time and I'm always
1158.76 - 1164.36:  struck at how close all of this is. Over here is the Pentagon and over here are all the defense
1164.36 - 1171.64:  contractors in an area of town literally called Pentagon City. If there's someone working in government
1171.64 - 1178.36:  who is deciding on contracts and they have a conversation with someone who's going to receive
1178.3600000000001 - 1184.6000000000001:  that contract, the person in the firm can promise a good high-paying job after that government
1184.6000000000001 - 1191.3200000000002:  official is out of government. And so the government official then has an incentive to give a generous
1191.3200000000002 - 1195.88:  contract to the contractor because they know they're getting this kind of quid pro quo,
1195.88 - 1200.8000000000002:  They're gonna get a high-paying job after they leave government and to add insult to injury here
1200.8000000000002 - 1206.96:  Some of the lawmakers who approve the Pentagon's budget own stocks in the defense contracting companies
1207.16 - 1212.42:  Like the lawmakers get richer if we spend more money on defense
1212.42 - 1218.54:  no no no no why do we do this like this is not this is like classic basic simple
1218.54 - 1222.98:  like no conflict of interest we should not do this this is not a thing we should
1222.98 - 1227.02:  do but actually owning stocks in these companies is not the biggest way I think
1227.02 - 1231.86:  think that our lawmakers are influenced by defense contractors. There's something
1231.86 - 1235.86:  more subtle going on here that I think is actually the best explanation and it
1235.86 - 1239.58:  has to do with this excellent map.
1241.98 - 1246.46:  This map was assembled by an Air Force veteran and analyst named Christian
1246.46 - 1251.54:  Sorenson. This map makes it easy to see how contractors intentionally allocate
1251.54 - 1256.98:  their operations all across the country, spanning dozens of states and political
1256.98 - 1263.94:  districts. Building all of this stuff means jobs which people like. So lawmakers
1263.94 - 1267.3400000000001:  are incentivized to keep these contractors making stuff in their
1267.34 - 1271.58:  district to provide jobs for their people so they can keep getting elected.
1271.58 - 1275.34:  It's honestly brilliant. It's smart. This is political engineering.
1275.34 - 1279.82:  You can see it very clearly with lawmakers like Roger Wicker, a senator from the state of
1279.82 - 1284.82:  of Mississippi. Senator Wicker is a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services,
1284.82 - 1290.02:  which plays a huge role in giving taxpayer money to the Pentagon, which in turn feeds
1290.02 - 1295.8999999999999:  the bottom line of contractors. Wicker loves the military. You often hear him advocating
1295.9 - 1298.46:  that we should spend way more on the military.
1298.46 - 1302.7800000000002:  We need, in the United States, to spend more on defense.
1302.7800000000002 - 1303.8600000000001:  It's as necessitate.
1303.8600000000001 - 1307.6200000000001:  He writes op-eds in the New York Times calling for more ship building.
1307.6200000000001 - 1311.5800000000002:  And when you look at his state, you realize, of course he does.
1311.5800000000002 - 1316.7600000000002:  The largest employer in Mississippi is this naval shipyard run by a defense contractor
1316.7600000000002 - 1322.0800000000002:  named Huntington Ingalls, which means more jobs and economic stimulus for wickers people
1322.08 - 1326.12:  in his state, which means a better likelihood of being reelected.
1326.12 - 1330.24:  These defense contractors know that Senator Wicker is an important part of their bottom
1330.24 - 1335.12:  line, so they contribute huge amounts of money to his campaign to make sure he gets
1335.12 - 1336.12:  reelected.
1336.1200000000001 - 1341.88:  It's this virtuous cycle between Senator Wicker and the defense contractors that results in us
1341.88 - 1347.8000000000002:  spending more money on things that maybe we don't need to. Senator Wicker's job is to represent
1347.8000000000002 - 1352.7600000000002:  the American people. He sits on a committee that is supposed to be looking at our national
1352.76 - 1357.8799999999999:  security as a whole. And yet thanks to the strategy of these for-profit defense contractors,
1357.8799999999999 - 1363.0:  this lawmaker has way too much incentive to advocate for more military spending,
1363.0 - 1369.24:  which is exactly what he does. My issue here is less with Senator Wicker, or Congress and Mike
1369.24 - 1374.04:  Rogers who has the same thing, sits on a committee, gives a bunch of money to the Pentagon, has a
1374.04 - 1378.36:  state where billions of dollars of defense contract money comes into, takes tons of money from
1378.36 - 1383.8:  defense contractors first campaign, gets reelected, continues to approve more money for the Pentagon,
1399.24 - 1405.32:  And it is this system that has created an environment where there is very little political
1405.32 - 1409.44:  pushback to the endless ratcheting up of our military budget.
1409.44 - 1414.36:  You know, no Congress person wants to be the person who loses jobs in their district.
1414.3600000000001 - 1419.5600000000002:  wants to be the one known as shutting down a plant and people becoming unemployed.
1419.5600000000002 - 1425.4:  And so Lockheed can say, we have to have increased funding of this contract or you will lose
1425.4 - 1426.6000000000001:  jobs.
1426.6000000000001 - 1432.64:  And so that idea that jobs are essential, the Department of Defense spending is essential,
1432.64 - 1435.3600000000001:  gives the the contractor political power.
1440.0 - 1446.24:  Let me make one point clear, which is that this isn't all corporate lobbying that contributes
1446.24 - 1451.0400000000002:  to the US spending so much on the military. That would be too lazy of an explanation.
1451.04 - 1457.2:  We live in a world where there's a well-documented paradox that explains that strong militaries
1457.2 - 1464.48:  are actually the key ingredient to avoiding conflict, in deterring an enemy from attacking,
1464.48 - 1469.04:  keeping a balance between big militaries so that no one attacks.
1469.04 - 1474.24:  Maybe someday we won't need militaries, even close to the size that we have today,
1474.24 - 1480.32:  but it appears that in today's world we still do need big militaries, with credible threats,
1480.32 - 1485.84:  to avoid the age-old human curse of war. And yet, on the other side of that paradox,
1485.84 - 1490.96:  is the fact that if you grow your military, you force your adversary to do the same,
1490.96 - 1496.24:  to keep pace with you. The US and the Soviet Union did that for decades during the Cold War,
1496.24 - 1502.16:  each ratcheting up their military until suddenly both sides had over 10,000 nuclear warheads.
1502.16 - 1510.0:  That is madness. It diverges from the rational. And yet it's the logical result when we decide
1510.0 - 1515.8400000000001:  that the main solution to beating our rivals is to just make more weapons.
1515.84 - 1520.8799999999999:  As the US spends more, Russia, China, other countries are spending more.
1520.8799999999999 - 1526.48:  If you look at the discretionary budget, about 50% of that goes to the Department of Defense,
1526.48 - 1529.28:  and only one or two percent of that goes to the Department of State.
1529.28 - 1534.6399999999999:  can see where our priorities are. A show of force is really the first foreign policy of the US.
1534.6399999999999 - 1539.6:  For this one, the explanation is easy. Diplomacy is hard and complicated and long.
1539.6 - 1544.3999999999999:  It doesn't make leaders feel as powerful and secure as having a big military does.
1544.4 - 1547.44:  and no one's getting rich off diplomacy.
1547.44 - 1551.1200000000001:  And yet diplomacy, international law and organizations,
1551.1200000000001 - 1555.3600000000001:  treaties, cooperation, that is how we solve our differences.
1555.3600000000001 - 1558.64:  That is how we have learned to live peacefully on this globe.
1558.64 - 1562.5600000000002:  The fact is no one ever achieved sustainable peace
1562.56 - 1567.28:  by spending more on their military. And finally, we have to remember that while we
1567.28 - 1572.24:  pour so much into our military, that is money that can't be spent elsewhere.
1572.24 - 1577.36:  If we increase defense spending, that necessarily has to mean something else decreases.
1577.3600000000001 - 1579.7600000000002:  a bigger piece of the pie for defense,
1579.7600000000002 - 1581.3200000000002:  smaller piece of the pie for other things.
1581.3200000000002 - 1583.5600000000002:  And those other things might be healthcare,
1583.5600000000002 - 1586.2400000000002:  education, climate change, and so on.
1586.2400000000002 - 1589.5200000000002:  And then we can also think of this notion of security.
1589.52 - 1591.7:  What actually makes us secure?
1591.7 - 1594.6:  Does spending more on defense make us more secure?
1594.6 - 1596.58:  If you look at other sources of security,
1596.58 - 1600.3799999999999:  having good roads and bridges, having safe drinking water,
1600.3799999999999 - 1603.5:  these are all things that Americans need investment in
1603.5 - 1605.34:  to be safe, to be healthy.
1605.34 - 1607.62:  So we're economically secure.
1607.62 - 1611.7:  People have jobs that they can go to, funding for college.
1611.7 - 1614.14:  Those are all sources of security as well.
1614.14 - 1615.9:  So it's not just military security
1615.9 - 1618.2800000000002:  we need to think of when we think of the federal budget.
1618.2800000000002 - 1620.2:  I deeply respect the men and women
1620.2 - 1623.24:  who work and serve the country in the military.
1623.24 - 1625.64:  But I think that our laws and norms
1625.64 - 1628.24:  around how much money we give to the military
1628.24 - 1631.44:  prevents us from assessing this situation clearly.
1631.44 - 1635.6:  The system we have incentivizes the wrong priorities.
1635.6 - 1637.36:  Priorities that have a lot more to do
1637.36 - 1639.16:  with profit margins of companies
1639.16 - 1642.1:  and the electability of lawmakers.
1642.1 - 1646.36:  All of this setting us on a path of infinite escalation
1646.3600000000001 - 1648.5600000000002:  that risks ending in disaster.
1652.96 - 1654.44:  Hey, thanks for watching everyone.
1654.44 - 1655.8000000000002:  If you haven't checked out Search Party,
1655.8000000000002 - 1658.2:  our other channel run by Sam Ellis.
1658.2 - 1660.6200000000001:  It is geopolitics and sports.
1660.6200000000001 - 1661.8000000000002:  It's our really great channel.
1661.8 - 1664.9199999999998:  should go check it out. All of our music we make here in house with our composer
1664.9199999999998 - 1669.08:  Tom Fox. That is all published over on our music channel called Chromatic. It's
1669.08 - 1672.52:  also on Spotify so head over there link in the description. Subscribe to the
1672.52 - 1675.84:  channel if you haven't already and check out our sources, we put a lot of work
1675.84 - 1679.96:  into fact-checking and documenting those sources so that you can further read on
1679.96 - 1683.56:  any of the assertions that we made in this video. Thanks for being here. See you
1683.56 - 1685.96:  in the next one.
1702.52 - 1704.52:  You

Assistant: