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> It pays American soldier salaries It pays soldiers to do "useless" work. These same soldiers could have been working as construction workers, teachers, facto
by qubax 8y ago
> It pays American soldier salaries
It pays soldiers to do "useless" work. These same soldiers could have been working as construction workers, teachers, factory workers, etc doing something productive. Instead, they've spent their lives killing and getting PTSD.
> it buys products from American defense contractors that provide hundreds of thousands of jobs
Once again, non-productive goods. Instead of building missiles and bullets, the resources could have been used to build new trains for example.
> it funds R&D that trickles down to the rest of society.
Don't need war for R&D. R&D money was going to be spent regardless.
It's about the opportunity costs. Money spent well vs money spent poorly.
- casper345 8y ago> Don't need war for R&D. R&D money was going to be spent regardless. I would say that is an assumption that is not fully true compared to knowing that war R&D has in fact produce technologies adapted in civil society. Reminds me of a false claim that if the Wright Brothers never were the first to have a successful flight, we would still have planes. We could have easily never have had a successful flight -> airplanes. Although negative, we should still give credit to war R&*D
- ascii_only 8y agoBut Wright Brothers weren't alone who build planes at the time and even weren't the first to have a successful flight. It was Santos-Dumont.
- casper345 8y agoOh interesting, did not know about Santos-Dumont. Probably my Amercian bias and history in school of just knowing the Weight Brothers.
- jjeaff 8y agoIt actually wasn't Santos Dumont. It was the wright brothers. But most Brazilians have convinced themselves otherwise. The sources clearly indicate the wright brothers were a year or more before Santos. It's just that many Brazilians simply claim that the wright brothers and those that witnessed the flight were lying. http://www.wright-brothers.org/History_Wing/History_of_the_Airplane/Who_Was_First/Santos_Dumont/Santos_Dumont.htm http://www.wright-brothers.org/History_Wing/History_of_the_A...