More compassion, famine relief, clean water, well-funded schools, community farms, more opportunity to thrive and flourish.
Those would be the results of a world with an axis -- that did not spin around perpetual war.
Sadly we do not live in such a world. Not for a long time. If ever, even.
The 1.5 Trillion Dollar Question
by Maisha Lopa -- April 1, 2011
Joint Committee Meeting of Religious and Disarmament NGO’s on Military Spending
[...]
Ray Acheson, Director of Reaching Critical Will stressed the staggering statistics attributed to global military spending. She pointed out that military spending went up 50% since 2009 and the global recession, instead of decreasing military spending, spurred 2/3 of countries to increase their spending. She said, “the industry that builds the means to slaughter each other is also one of the biggest contributors to the world economy.” Ms. Acheson spoke about how the global arms industry is becoming more concentrated, growing bigger and richer as instances of conflict, war and terrorism become more prevalent. [...] She concluded her speech by bringing attention to the fact that one-year of current military spending -- $1.5 trillion -- is enough money to fund 700 years of the current UN annual budget.
Where we spend our Dollars,
says a LOT about our National Priorities ... (and where we don't spend them too.)
Being the "Biggest Kid on the Block,"
DOES have its Price Tag ... but oh the perks. (the world loves us, doncha know?)
Thoughts on the Economy: Problems and Solutions
by Mike "Mish" Shedlock -- Oct 13, 2009
[...]
Mish: Bingo. We can easily slash our military budget by 70% and still be the most powerful nation in the world. Moreover, it is time to declare the war in Iraq and Afghanistan over, pack our bags and leave. Gradually, over the next 5-8 years we should bring home all our troops from literally every county they are stationed.
This chart shows the absurdity of our spending.
Chart courtesy of Global Issues - World Military Spending.
If common sense ruled the world -- what would we see?
More compassion, famine relief, clean water, well-funded schools ...
But instead we see, a mad race to ... potential oblivion. More super-surveillance. More destruction raining down from above. Heck of a Job, Lockheed!
Military Spending – Obama, you promised change!
by Nathan A. Martin, economicedge.blogspot.com -- Feb 21, 2009
I’m going to cut through the crap for you. We have bankrupted our nation on behalf of the central bankers, many of whom own and promote our Keynesian military industrial complex. [...]
We spend more on our “defense” than the rest of the entire world combined.
When you compare our military budget to the rest of the world, it looks like this, which is ridiculous:
But that chart does not tell the whole story. It does not include the budget for “homeland security” nor off balance sheet spending on nuclear weapons, and so forth. When you add in all the spending that is for “defense” that is NOT included in the Pentagon or military budgets, the total dwarfs that spent by the entire globe! That is simply insane.
Unless, of course, you manufacture weapons or profit in some other way from that spending… If you do, you don’t hesitate to lobby politicians to get your way, do you?
[...]
Sometimes the most obvious "spending solutions" are right in front of us ... yet for whatever reason they
fail to register, in any "common sense" sort of way.
Military strategy for progressives: Now is the time to press for Pentagon cuts, green reinvestment
by Meteor Blades for Daily Kos -- Apr 12, 2011
[...]
As Hellman notes, however, the $671 billion shown in the chart does not include $19.3 billion for nuclear-related spending by the Dept. of Energy, $8.7 billion in counter-terrorism activities by the State Dept. and U.S. Agency for International Development, $27 billion for military intelligence, $129.3 billion for veterans programs (call this part of the expenditures for consequences of past wars), $18 billion that includes foreign military aid, international peacekeeping operations and projects such as cleaning up landmines in previous conflict zones, and $48.5 billion for pensions that go to military veterans and retired civilian Pentagon employees. Plus, $48 billion in defense-related interest debt.
[...]
In other words, without big changes, the United States will be spending more than it was during the height of Vietnam and the Cold War in 2015. Here is another way to look at what that spending looks like:
Pretty damn depressing, frankly.
[...]
I hear ya, progressive bell-ringers!
Where we spend OUR TAX Dollars, says a LOT about our National Priorities ...
One day actual Human Compassion will trump our spending for more Military Might ... Not any time soon I'm afraid.
But one day. If not, then humanity hasn't learned a damn thing -- in any common sense sort of way.
War is a relic. War is an addiction. War is the ultimate waste of our hard earned funds. (Where do Bombs go after their limited shelf-life, anyways?)
There MUST be a Better way. It has to start by tossing the war-colored spectacles. And then fulfilling the promise, to start "nation building" here at home. Some day, or so they say.