The Trillion Dollar Defense Budget Is Already Here

?When President George W. Bush presented his budget proposals recently for the fiscal year 2008, he emphasized that the nation's security is his highest priority, and he backed up that declaration by proposing that the Pentagon's outlays be increased by more than 6 percent beyond its estimated outlays for fiscal 2007, to a total of more than $583 billion. Although many Americans regard this enormous sum as excessive, hardly anyone appreciates that the total amount of all defense-related spending greatly exceeds the amount budgeted for the Department of Defense. Indeed, it is roughly almost twice as large.? Robert Higgs wrote this nearly a year ago. Ponder this whenever you read about the latest bloated Federal budget proposal.