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Wednesday, December 22, 2010

US cannot afford military spending

Military spending is by far the worst way any country can spend its money, economically speaking.
When the government spends money on the military, the investment payback to society is low. For example, if the government decides to build a un-needed bridge, at a minimum the local population does leverage the bridge to build up their economy. Even such an expensive project, if done when not economically warranted, pays back to society.

If a battalion is stationed in a foreign country, the military spends in that local economy. A missile, after built, when used, does not give back a return on investment. The items built, and labor spent, does not produce a product that American Society can leverage.

Granted, the world is not one we can merely trust and disband the military. America, as any leading nation, must have a military that can defend itself. And if needed wage war to protect it's interests.

So while I do support the concept of America having an army, I don't believe it should be spending 5% of total GDP on the military. Think of it this way, if every economic transaction had a 5% "surcharge" tax to pay for war, to avoid deficit spending, would the support for the large military system exist? Or would a 1% surcharge be more supportable?

Click to read topic by Mish, and an eye-catching graph to highlight America's over-allocation to military spending.

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