An Eye-Opening Peek At The Pentagon's Weird Budget Math

If you've been paying attention, you may have heard that President Obama has pledged to cut $400 billion out of security spending between now and 2023. But what you may not know is that the $400 billion won't be a cut as far as Joe and Jane Taxpayer are concerned. Todd Harrison, Washington's defense-budget wizard, says letting Pentagon spending grow along with inflation, between now and 2023, actually will yield more than the $400 billion in savings Obama is seeking. Keep your eye on the ball here: the $400 billion in cuts aren't cuts as you and I understand them -- they are reductions in the projected future rate of growth. And because defense spending has close to doubled over the past decade -- with future spending increases folded into future budget plans as naturally as dew forms on the morning grass -- the U.S. military finds trimming its future spending to the rate of inflation a near-death experience.

"I think we need to cut defense," Obama said Friday, "but as commander-in-chief, I've got to make sure that we're cutting it in a way that recognizes we're still in the middle of a war, we're winding down another war, and we've got a whole bunch of veterans that we've got to care for as they come home." But as Harrison, the budget whiz at the independent Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments makes clear, the Obama Administrations has proposed no real spending cuts for the Pentagon. Beyond that, the analysis of the 2012 budget he released Monday contains some interesting facts:

-- The average troop will be paid $57,400 in 2012, including various allowances for housing and subsistence.

-- The cost of deploying one soldier to Afghanistan will be an estimated $1.2 million in 2012.

-- The cost of the war in Libya to the U.S. is 1% of the cost of the war in Afghanistan.

-- The average cost to fly an Air Force plane for one hour will be $23,800 in 2012.

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