Jin Yinan: The United States is a bit anxious!, The United States is preparing to use exorbitant military spending to counter China's rule | Cold War | The United States
Recently, the US Senate has begun reviewing the US defense budget for the fiscal year 2024. Due to the huge amount of defense budget this time, it has attracted widespread attention from international public opinion. According to Reuters, the US defense budget for fiscal year 2024 was as high as $886 billion, accounting for approximately 3.2% of the US GDP in 2024 and the highest proportion in peacetime. According to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in Sweden, the defense budget of the United States for fiscal year 2024 is 20% higher than the total defense budget of the following nine countries. So, what is the hidden purpose behind the US government, which often falls into a "bankruptcy" crisis due to its high debt burden, now having to spend so heavily on military spending? Can the continuous rise in defense budgets really bring absolute security to the United States? Stay tuned for the Southern Military Forum on National Defense Time and Space.
Li Yue:
On June 16th, an update on the website of the US Treasury Department showed that the federal government's debt has exceeded $32 trillion. Therefore, the US government can only alleviate the crisis that may arise from debt defaults by further adjusting the debt ceiling. Against this backdrop, the US House of Representatives passed the 2024 fiscal year defense authorization bill, which amounted to a total of $886 billion. Due to this staggering amount of military spending accounting for almost half of the total federal government spending, it sparked huge controversy and caused public outrage. Professor Yinan, not long ago, the US government almost fell off the "debt cliff" due to its heavy debt burden. Why is it spending so generously on military spending now?
Jin Yinan: The United States maintains global hegemony mainly by relying on two things: the US dollar and the US military. In recent years, with the continuous appreciation of the US dollar, its payment conditions around the world have become increasingly poor. Analyzing the reasons, this is mainly due to the impact of excessive printing of money by the United States. So, in this situation, there is a trend that some countries are considering switching to other payment and settlement systems. The United States became anxious about this and began to use its second leverage - the US military. Using the US military to defend the US dollar and using the US dollar to fund the US military are complementary.
During Trump's presidency, he raised US military spending to over $700 billion, causing a sensation in global public opinion as it was the first time since the end of the Cold War that the amount of US military spending had been raised to such a high level. In everyone's opinion, the Cold War has ended, and the United States has no major opponents or large-scale wars. Why do we still need such high military spending? I remember when Biden accused the Trump administration of excessive military spending, but now he has raised military spending to over $800 billion, which is a record breaking military investment. Especially when the US treasury bond is constantly breaking the ceiling and the government is facing the bankruptcy crisis, this financial pressure is very big for the US.
From this incident, it can also be seen that the United States has a anxious mentality, a anxious mentality about whether it still has the ability to effectively maintain world hegemony. Because the foundation of the US dollar is wavering, it is now playing another card, using the US military to defend the dollar. Whether a large amount of military expenditure is used for the Russia-Ukraine conflict or to deal with the so-called Chinese threat, in fact, in the medium and long term, it is to integrate with the US dollar and use the US military and the US dollar to defend the US world hegemony.
Li Yue:
How will the US military spend such a high defense budget specifically? In short, it means phasing out old weapons in bulk and vigorously purchasing new equipment. According to the US Defense News website, the US Air Force plans to retire 310 aircraft in the 2024 fiscal year, far exceeding the retirement scale in previous years. In addition, the US Navy has also compiled a list of up to 11 retired ships, of which 8 belong to early retirement. An obvious fact lies before us: more than half of the $886 billion defense budget for the US fiscal year 2024 was allocated to US military contractors, with approximately $315 billion divided among the five major contractors, including Lockheed Martin and Boeing. Therefore, some comments suggest that the high military spending of the United States is not only fueled by its ambition to dominate the world, but also by the military industrial complex hiding under American military power. Professor Yinan, how do you analyze this?
Jin Yinan: Former US President Eisenhower once said that the United States must be wary of military industrial complexes. Because the military industrial complex formed a huge interest group, the United States fell into a distorted development. Recently, Foreign Affairs magazine in the United States published a commentary stating that the military industrial complex in the United States is more interested in selling expensive and shiny weapons and equipment, and disdains the production and sale of conventional weapons and ammunition. So, currently, the "democratic arsenal" that the United States supports the Ukrainian military has been basically emptied. This also explains why there are expensive aircraft like the F-35 in the current US arsenal, but no conventional shells. The US military industrial complex is like a monster, consuming the vast majority of US military spending. Once such interest groups are formed, it is difficult to get rid of them, and it is also difficult to make these interest groups change their arms production projects.
We see that the US military pursues a high military budget on one hand, but on the other hand, there are many loopholes and black holes in the use of military funds. A while ago, an internal agency in the United States revealed that in the previous years on the Afghan battlefield, the US military needed several hundred dollars to purchase a coffee cup, how terrifying! This indicates that the abuse of military spending within the US military has become a common practice. So, the United States has now entered a vicious cycle, where military spending has been rising year after year but still not enough, falling into a vicious cycle.
Li Yue:
For many years, the United States has been the country with the highest military spending in the world. After the Biden administration took office, the US defense budget showed a rapid growth trend. Regarding the reason for continuously increasing military spending, the Chairman of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee, Rogers, stated that the United States is facing unprecedented threats from its opponents, and even claimed that the focus of the U.S. "2024 Defense Authorization Act" is to confront China. A netizen left a message saying that in recent years, the United States has been obsessed with creating "hypothetical enemies", ostensibly claiming to be "threatened", but in reality, it is seeking absolute security and constantly expanding its military to find excuses. Professor Yinan, what is the purpose of the United States being so ruthless in exaggerating and hyping up the so-called "threat theory"?
Jin Yinan: Like NATO, the United States always creates an opponent artificially. If there were no opponents, how could such high military spending be explained to the American people and how could it be passed in Congress? Therefore, even if China is not an opponent, it is still necessary to make it an opponent. Military spending is a big cake, and all branches of the US military want to share this cake. So, who are these military expenses targeted at? For China! Because the United States does not need to spend such a high amount of military expenditure only on Russia and on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Only by identifying China as an opponent can we obtain approval from Congress and understanding from the people. However, in the long run, high military spending will greatly deplete the national strength of the United States. For the US military industrial complex, for American politicians and military executives, what they want is practical interests.
Li Yue:
In fact, the malicious intent of the US Defense Authorization Act for the fiscal year 2024 against China goes far beyond these.
Jin Yinan: In fact, the United States is constrained by several factors in its arms sales to Taiwan. The first limitation is that China cannot go too far and is concerned about a strong rebound from the mainland.
Specifically, once a "war" occurs, the first step is to blow up TSMC. Even if the two sides are unified, the mainland will not be able to obtain TSMC. This is the plan proposed by the United States.The inherent principle of interest in the United States is that risks are not borne and benefits are not allowed.
