Sorry but most military spending is not going to paying salaries. If your point is that defense budget should be smaller then I agree with that, but the last you want during an economic crisis is cutting back on defense/military. The economy depends on peace and geopolitical stability,not being able to respond properly to a crisis requiring military action can lead to scenarios that exasperate economic recovery. My view is, when the economy does better, additional revenue should not be allocated to defense spending.