The Economic Cost of Defense Spending?

Question

The U.S. Congress just approved an additional $190 billion for the military.
How much of this is returned to the economy in job creation, taxable business profits and other economic stimulants?
This is meant to be a serious economic query, not a commentary on politics, religion, or social morality.
How did this compare with other spending programs?

Answer 1

On the surface an additional $190 billion for a foreign war may seem like we are spending the money in the country where the war is taking place, this is not true. That $190 billion will be paid to members of the military who will in turn pay income tax and then pay sales tax when they spend the money. A war needs other goods such as planes, tanks, bullets, guns, MRE's, ect. Those are all made in the USA, so jobs are created there as well.

Trickle Down!

Obviously there is an opportunity cost, the money spent on the war can't be spent on other things, although the way the government spends money I don't think they see it that way, Deficit What?

Answer 2

Well if you know the GDP function we see that G is government spending, thus that will increase, aswell as creating more jobs. Wars increase the GDP, but wars are not always a good thing.