The Cost of Empire

The Hidden Budget: How They Hide $1.35 Trillion

Congress and the media report the DoD “topline” number — currently $886 billion — as if it represents total military spending. It doesn't. Significant military costs are deliberately scattered across other agencies to make the total look smaller. This isn't accidental. It's budget gimmickry designed to hide the true cost of empire from the American people:

This budget accounting is deliberate deception. Imagine if General Motors reported only the cost of assembling cars, but put the cost of steel, labor, R&D, and debt service in separate budgets managed by other divisions. Investors would call it fraud. When the Pentagon does it, Congress calls it "budget structure."

The Pentagon Has Never Passed an Audit

Since 1990, federal law has required all government agencies to undergo annual audits. The Pentagon has never passed one. After decades of "we can't audit because we're too complex," the DoD finally attempted its first department-wide audit in 2018. It failed. It has failed every year since.

This isn't a technicality. The Pentagon cannot account for trillions of dollars. It doesn't know how many contractors it employs. It can't track weapons shipments. It has lost entire bases in its accounting. Equipment worth hundreds of billions has simply vanished from the books.

For comparison: Walmart — a company with $648 billion in annual revenue, 2.1 million employees, and 10,500+ stores in 19 countries — passes its audit every year. The Pentagon, with a smaller budget, fewer employees, and operations in the same countries, cannot account for its money after 7 attempts and $280 million spent on auditors.

The Base Empire

The United States maintains approximately 750 military bases in at least 80 countries. By comparison, the UK, France, and Russia combined have approximately 30 overseas bases. China has 1 (in Djibouti). The US base network is unprecedented in human history — larger than the British Empire at its peak, more extensive than Rome's, and more expensive than any military infrastructure ever constructed.

These bases cost approximately $55 billion per year to operate — a figure that doesn't include the environmental remediation costs (contaminated water, toxic waste), the social costs (crime, sexual assault, cultural disruption in host communities), or the strategic costs (bases provoke the very hostility they claim to deter).

What We Can't Afford Because of What We Spend

Every dollar spent on empire is a dollar not spent at home. The $1.35 trillion annual military budget represents choices — choices to fund aircraft carriers instead of hospitals, bases instead of schools, bombs instead of bridges. The opportunity cost is staggering:

All six programs combined — free college, ending homelessness, universal pre-K, clean water, broadband, and doubling cancer research — would cost $252 billion per year. That's less than the VA budget alone. Less than 19% of true military spending. The United States doesn't lack the resources for these programs. It lacks the political will to redirect military spending.

Unprecedented in Human History

No empire in human history has maintained as extensive a military presence as the United States. At its peak, the British Empire — the largest empire ever — had perhaps 100 military installations outside the home islands. Rome, at its zenith, maintained roughly 150 permanent military bases across the Mediterranean and Europe. The United States has 750+ bases in 80+ countries — five times more than Rome and Britain combined.

The pattern across history is consistent: empires that spend more than 6-8% of GDP on military power eventually collapse under the fiscal burden. The United States is already at 4.6% and growing. Unlike previous empires, which at least conquered territory and extracted wealth, the US base empire generates no revenue — it only costs money.

The $1.7 Trillion F-35 and Other Boondoggles

Military contractors have perfected the art of extracting maximum money for minimum capability. The result: weapons systems that cost more than NASA's entire budget but often don't work. Here are the most expensive failures in Pentagon history:

This pattern isn't accidental. Defense contractors have a perverse incentive: the more a weapon costs and the longer it takes to build, the more money they make. Cost overruns aren't bugs — they're features. The Pentagon-contractor revolving door ensures that the people who approve these contracts often go to work for the companies that benefit from them.

Imperial Overstretch: The Kennedy Thesis Vindicated

In 1987, historian Paul Kennedy published The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, arguing that empires decline when military spending outpaces economic growth — a phenomenon he called “imperial overstretch.” The pattern is consistent across history: Spain, the Netherlands, France, Britain, the Soviet Union — all spent themselves into decline trying to maintain global military dominance.

Kennedy's thesis was controversial when applied to the United States in 1987. It looks prescient in 2025. The US share of global GDP has declined from 40% in 1960 to 24% today, while military spending has increased in real terms. Infrastructure crumbles. Healthcare costs bankrupt families. Education outcomes decline. Life expectancy has fallen. The empire abroad is funded by decay at home.

The Comparison They Don't Want You to Make

When politicians justify the military budget, they compare it to China and Russia. But the comparison is misleading in both directions. First, the US spends more than the next 10 countries combined. Second, and more importantly, other developed nations achieve security at a fraction of the cost — and use the savings to invest in their citizens:

Every nation on this list is secure. None faces an existential military threat. But their citizens live longer, pay less for healthcare and education, and enjoy higher quality of life — because their governments chose to invest in people instead of empire.

The Choice

The United States doesn't have a defense budget. It has an empire budget. The distinction matters because defense — protecting the homeland from genuine threats — would cost a fraction of what the US currently spends. The nuclear arsenal alone provides an effective deterrent against any state actor. The two oceans provide geographic security that no base in Djibouti can improve.

What the $1.35 trillion buys is not security but global dominance — the ability to project military force anywhere on Earth within hours, to maintain military superiority over every other nation simultaneously, and to sustain a network of bases and alliances that would be recognizable to any Roman emperor.

The question America refuses to ask: is empire worth it? Is global military dominance worth crumbling schools, unaffordable healthcare, declining life expectancy, and a generation drowning in student debt? Every other developed nation has answered that question — and chosen differently.

Sources

Related Analysis