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War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domi
by Joeri 9y ago
War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.
Counterpoint: in the modern era debts and taxes derive from the social system, not war. The US spends 2 trillion per year on taking care of its retirees and “only” 600 billion on the military. The entire world spends less than 2 trillion on war, so less than the US social security and medicaid budget. The thing governments largely spend their money on is taking care of their people, and taxes largely get redistributed through social systems. The image of the typical government as some malignant force dominating its populace is false (although such governments do exist).
- gshubert17 9y agoThe budget of the Department of Defense is only a small part of what the United States spends on war. Add in the Department of Energy's portion for nuclear weapons, the Veteran's Administration, the "black budgets" for the CIA, NSA, and others, the accumulated interest on the national debt for various wars (declared and undeclared), and the costs of PTSD-wounded warriors shifted to the public. I don't have a number, but I imagine it's quite a sum.
- nickik 9y agoThe State department has become essentially a property managment arm for the DoD. Lots of 'War against Drug' money is used to support the wars. Lots of 'devlopment' aid is used to support war. Massive amount of money are given to Israel and Egypt that is essentially military spending. The list goes on.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- lostlogin 9y agoThe social security and medical costs are higher in veterans than in the general population and the number of veterans receiving state support is significant. This inflates the cost of social security and medical care relative to the defence budget. Your costing of global defence budgets is possibly off a little but not much according to the below. Thanks for your post, I was surprised by the numbers. https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v66n2/v66n2p1.html https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v66n2/v66n2p1.html https://www.google.co.nz/amp/s/www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/12/12/1570000000000-much-world-spent-arms-year/amp/ https://www.google.co.nz/amp/s/www.telegraph.co.uk/business/...