The author makes a valiant attempt to unravel the mysteries of all the costs that burden American taxpayers in order to construct, maintain, and staff over 1000 foreign military bases (and growing). I assert a "valiant attempt" because the Pentagon uses all sorts of accounting and other gimmicks to hide these costs from the American people. It should also be made clear that he is only focusing on one sector of military spending, not on all the weapons production that supports the military-industrial complex and kills people in foreign lands.
How much does the United States spend each year occupying the planet with its bases and troops? How much does it spend on its global presence? Forced by congress to account for its spending overseas, the Pentagon has put that figure at US$22.1 billion a year. It turns out that even a conservative estimate of the true costs of garrisoning the globe comes to an annual total of about $170 billion. In fact, it may be considerably higher. Since the onset of "the Global War on Terror" in 2001, the total cost for our garrisoning policies, for our presence abroad, has probably reached $1.8 trillion to $2.1 trillion.To support all these costs, it's clear why our masters in the ruling One Percent need to cut back on spending for sustaining retired people at a subsistence level, providing medical care to its indigent citizens, food stamps and income benefits to the unemployed, bigger classroom sizes, fewer teachers, fewer library hours, etc.