If anyone can give me three reasons that US military spending has gone up since the end of the cold war, I will give you an automatic 10 points, but you must be accurate.
US military spending since the Berlin Wall came down has decreased both in real and adjusted for inflation terms, and as apart of the GNP to about 3.5%.
As an example, the US Navy had 585 ships when Bush Sr left office; it now has 290; the Army had 12 divisions and now 7.
1.Cold war spending for the military became an institution and institutions tend to perpetuate themselves. They go on with their own momentum.
2. New weapons and weapons systems were added without taking away old systems.
3. Increase in numbers of families of service personnel allowed and subsidized to go overseas.
