Military overemphasis leads to dangerous blind spots

The pandemic has controlled our lives for nearly two years. After more than 70 million cases and 883,000 deaths — and quickly rising — securing a coronavirus test seems more difficult than purchasing a pair of Adidas Yeezy sneakers for retail. Given how long we have been in this predicament, one would assume the country is well-equipped for another wave of the coronavirus. However, the government is preoccupied at the moment. 

Deliberating on the defense contractors they look to entrust with billions of dollars to develop hypersonic missiles, Pentagon officials are estimating it will cost approximately $28.5 billion to create these weapons that can hypothetically fly at five times more than the speed of sound. This insane weaponry, which will likely never see the light of day, epitomizes the United States government’s obsession with the defense sector.

As a result, other sectors of society are neglected. The United States ranks dead last in healthcare among the 11 highest-income countries. In terms of education, the country ranks ninth in reading and 31st in math among 79 countries. However, “the greatest nation in the world” leads the world in the number of armored vehicles, Navy destroyers, attack helicopters and aircraft carriers. 

For this upcoming year, the U.S. federal budget is approximately $6 trillion. Defense takes up $770 billion — about 13% of the entire budget. To fully comprehend that number, that means the U.S. currently spends more on defense than the next 11 countries combined. 

Even if the U.S. cut its defense spending by $500 billion, it would still spend $61 billion more than China — which has the second-highest military budget. Additionally, the U.S. is the top arms exporter in the world — responsible for 37% of the global market share of weapons. As it dominates the global arms business, the U.S. does not plan to give up its position to anyone else any time soon. 

Unsurprisingly, the U.S. leads in worldwide coronavirus cases and deaths as we lack resources dedicated to healthcare. The U.S. has fewer hospital beds per capita than most developed countries and struggles to increase its testing capacity. As a result, CVS and Walgreens have limited the number of coronavirus test kits available for purchase, and emergency rooms are also overwhelmed, with more than 155,000 hospitalizations. The White House only recently addressed this issue by stating they will provide test kits starting Jan. 19. 

Clearly, the pandemic exposed the U.S.’ broken healthcare system. Yet, the average annual medical cost per individual is $6,000 — $3,500 more than it would cost in the United Kingdom, where they have a higher life expectancy and lower infant mortality rates. 

With those costs, one would hope the government would commit to improve healthcare quality as they improve missiles. Yet, quality is not even the biggest issue — it is accessibility. 

Low-income marginalized groups are impacted the most by this. When comparing coronavirus cases, three times as many cases per capita occur within the Latinx community compared to white Americans. Black Americans have died at 1.4 times the rate of white Americans. 

Marginalized groups are not in a position to afford the ridiculously high healthcare costs with the wealth inequality in this country. The median Latinx and Black household earn 74 cents and 61 cents for every dollar the median white household earns, respectively. As a result, about 23% of Latinx Americans and 11.8% of Black Americans do not have health insurance, compared to only 7.5% of white Americans. The pandemic exposed inequities in healthcare, in part because of the lackluster medical resources and preexisting conceptions of the healthcare system. 

These same inequalities manifest within the education system. The number one example of this is redlining — the systematic denial of programs such as education for marginalized groups because of race. These groups often have no choice but to enroll in lower quality education than white individuals due to the lack of financial bandwidth to enroll in private education or to possibly drive an extended distance to a better school.

With less than 3% of the federal budget dedicated to primary and secondary education, it is clear why our education system remains broken. Maybe if the U.S. decreases its funding for the defense sector, we can divert some of that toward education. 

Healthcare and education, two of the most fundamental sectors of society, have fallen apart because the government is more interested in developing weapons of mass destruction and being the world’s number one arms dealer. If the U.S. truly wants to live up to the moniker “the greatest nation in the world,” it must shift its focus to protect the health of its citizens and create a better and more accessible education system.