If I were to choose between cutting expenditures for pensions, social welfare, and the military, I would not hesitate to choose the latter. It is no mystery that the U.S. military budget is the biggest in the world with a significant margin, even despite the absence of imminent global threats. There are many influential factors in this regard, for example, the military balance in the world and modern warfare peculiarities. The world nowadays is not the world as it was in the 20th century. The arms race no longer has justified reasons to be continued, while military alliances like NATO allow for a more flexible distribution of war power. Moreover, it became highly doubtful for a world war to occur since modern wars now happen mainly in the economical and informational fields.
In my opinion, raising taxes would be as bad as cutting pensions and welfare expenditures. The perfect example showcasing why it is highly undesirable is Germany, or, rather, the Weimar Republic in between the World wars. It had a large national debt due to numerous loans and war reparations. When the Great Depression hit, it caused chaos in the economical and financial areas of Germans’ lives. To address it, the Weimar government undertook several measures in the form of fiscal austerity, which implies severe tax raises and expenditure cuts. In doing so, the government lost the trust of all population classes (taxes concern the wealthy, welfare expenditures concern the poor). In a time of disarray, the population was ready to support anyone who at least somehow resembled stability and prosperity. Unfortunately, it was the Nazis who managed to take control of the situation.
While I do believe that government should reevaluate its spending, I do not find the Democratic course the most appropriate in the given situation. If the government does not raise taxes or cut expenditures, it can already be considered helping. I believe that instead of increasing benefits for the unemployed, the government should address the issue of unemployment by creating job positions. In addition, it is crucial to ensure the creation of both high-skilled and low-skilled jobs since many people simply do not have a chance or time to devote to education. If enough job supply is accessible to all population classes, the situation will already begin to look brighter.