Public Finance and National Security: Deficit Reduction and the American Military in a Time of Diminished Resources

The United States faces a budget crisis of proportions with no precedent in its recent history. The country’s economic dominance since the end of World War II has supported a military posture with global reach and influence. As such, the U.S. has been able to affect international relations to its advantage and underwrite global security to the economic benefit of other countries which partake in the international trading system. This would be impossible without robust American military power. A confluence of political forces, primarily the need to cut federal spending, will require reductions to the defense budget that, in tandem with other geopolitical exigencies, will accelerate a shift in the U.S. military’s strategic and geographic priorities. Sustaining its global reach and influence will demand that the U.S. reorient its political-military strategy and international engagements.

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