How long can the American economy sustain it's military at current levels?

No debates about whether it's needed or not, this is an economics based question about the military I am asking in the military section.How long can the American economy sustain it's military at current levels?It depends on how you look at the situation. I think a lot of Republicans would argue that we could stay there for a while because we could continue to defecit spend. Most Democrats and myself would argue that we cannot stay there much longer due to the escalating national debt. If we continue down this current path we will have a national debt so large that future generations will be stuck with the cost of the war. It is one of the main arguments, in my opinion, why we need to get out of Iraq.How long can the American economy sustain it's military at current levels?
Our military is operating at less than half the level it operated at in WWII... The difference between WWII and now is in the economy rather than in the military... during WWII the entire economy was geared towards the war... everything we produced went first to the war effort; GM and Ford switched from making sedans and trucks to making jeeps and tanks, Boeing and Grumman stopped making air liners and made heavy bombers and carrier based fighters... Today only a relatively small part of our economy is engaged in the war effot...



If the necessity arose for a true "all-out" war, say with Iran, the economy (hopefully) could be re-engineered to operate the same as it did in WWII... in which case, at it's current level of operation and personnel strength, the military would have more than enough equipment, supplies, etc.... this might even be good for the economy because if we were producing as many tanks, planes, and ships today as we were in WWII there would likely not be a recession looming and unemployment would be reduced dramatically... economically speaking, war is good for business (that is, if you win the war, of course) and WWII did speed our escape from the Great Depression...How long can the American economy sustain it's military at current levels?As long as the citizens are willing to pay for it and/or sacrifice other services to have it.



Economically speaking, America is now a debtor nation, so the military budget is based on borrowed money.



So, no, it is not infinitely sustainable when it's all on a credit card.



And doubly doubtful when the borrowed money is wasted on useless foreign adventures like Iraq.



If you plot out economic cycles after Korea and Vietnam, you will see recession 1-2 years after each.How long can the American economy sustain it's military at current levels?
Indefinitely.



We have a large amount of military spending but that spending is a minuscule percentage of our GNP (Gross National Product - the value of all goods and services we produce in a year).How long can the American economy sustain it's military at current levels?shorter than the life cycle of the USSR.

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with the expense of fuel driving tech prices up, 1/2 the money is in the weapons system. 1/4 is on troop and the other 1/4 is on the Iraq Gov't