U.S. Defense Budget Trends over the past 50 Years: An Annotated Bibliography

The United States is well known as one of the world’s biggest spenders when it comes to national defense. Since the end of World War II, U.S. domestic and foreign policies have had drastic implications on how taxpayer money is spent. Once an isolationist country, the U.S. soon developed global interests that required a strong military presence to protect. With newly made wealth in industry and the solid position as a global leader in the spread democracy, the U.S. began spending huge amounts of money on weapons systems, armed forces, executive government agencies, and countless public and secret military projects in the name of national defense and global security. These trends in defense spending are influenced by both public opinion and geopolitics of the time.
Statistics of defense spending over the past 50 years show that the U.S. spent the most taxpayer dollars in the late 70s and early 80s, at the height of the Cold War. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the defense budget gradually decreased, only to jump to record levels in recent years because of America’s Global War on Terror.
This is important because studies show that increased defense spending often leads to a stagnant economy and decreased spending in domestic socially beneficial programs. In light of the present economic recession, many have come to question the need of such extravagant spending. Furthermore, some projects financed under the defense budget, known as “black budget programs” are out of the legislature’s control and leaves an annual 36 billion dollars for classified use by non-elected officials.
Many of the resources included in this annotated bibliography provide information about current and past trends in US defense spending as well as specific areas within the defense budget that taxpayer dollars are spent. Several of the resources cited in this bibliography are derived from statistical research about what causes fluctuations in defense spending and how these changes can affect other social or economic aspects of the country. The bibliography includes both official government references as well as references uncovered through investigative reporting containing information that is officially denied by the government. This is most common within the topic of black budget programs. Other specific topics addressed by this annotated bibliography are U.S. spending habits in relation to the global community, the effects of public opinion on defense spending, and the effects of increased defense spending on the working class.
The United States is well known as one of the world’s biggest spenders when it comes to national defense. Since the end of World War II, U.S. domestic and foreign policies have had drastic implications on how taxpayer money is spent. Once an isolationist country, the U.S. soon developed global interests that required a strong military presence to protect. With newly made wealth in industry and the solid position as a global leader in the spread democracy, the U.S. began spending huge amounts of money on weapons systems, armed forces, executive government agencies, and countless public and secret military projects in the name of national defense and global security. These trends in defense spending are influenced by both public opinion and geopolitics of the time.
Statistics of defense spending over the past 50 years show that the U.S. spent the most taxpayer dollars in the late 70s and early 80s, at the height of the Cold War. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the defense budget gradually decreased, only to jump to record levels in recent years because of America’s Global War on Terror.
This is important because studies show that increased defense spending often leads to a stagnant economy and decreased spending in domestic socially beneficial programs. In light of the present economic recession, many have come to question the need of such extravagant spending. Furthermore, some projects financed under the defense budget, known as “black budget programs” are out of the legislature’s control and leaves an annual 36 billion dollars for classified use by non-elected officials.
Many of the resources included in this annotated bibliography provide information about current and past trends in US defense spending as well as specific areas within the defense budget that taxpayer dollars are spent. Several of the resources cited in this bibliography are derived from statistical research about what causes fluctuations in defense spending and how these changes can affect other social or economic aspects of the country. The bibliography includes both official government references as well as references uncovered through investigative reporting containing information that is officially denied by the government. This is most common within the topic of black budget programs. Other specific topics addressed by this annotated bibliography are U.S. spending habits in relation to the global community, the effects of public opinion on defense spending, and the effects of increased defense spending on the working class.

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