Have you ever stopped to wonder just how much it costs US taxpayers to equip, train and deploy the armed forces? How much do the uniforms, equipment, fuel and weapons cost and what else could it have bought? This infograph shows just what exactly what is costs to maintain and deploy the United States military.
Equipping just a single US Soldier or Marine costs the Untied Stats government $17,500. In comparison to trillion dollar budgets, that may not seem like a great deal, but $17,500 could pay and average families rent or mortgage for over a year or their entire families health insurance premiums and deductibles.
On the complete other end of the dial, the nuclear weapons program of the United States costs taxpayers and estimated $52 billion annually. This comes out the combined average income of 1,051,673.5 households. That amount of money could buy 234,445.4 houses, fully fund 2,477,842.3 4 year college programs or 3,449,842.3 family health insurance policies.
No one questions the need for a strong US military. The United States has the single most powerful military force in the world, and most Americans would prefer it stays that way. Sometimes though, it seems that the American military might be a tad overfunded and that money could be better spent on domestic welfare projects. Could America still maintain its worldwide military might with a cut back on armed forces spending?