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If Technological advances lead us to a world of abundance, then $2T doesn't matter. Also, military provides plenty of people to a) have a purpose b) be physic

If Technological advances lead us to a world of abundance, then $2T doesn't matter. Also, military provides plenty of people to a) have a purpose b) be physically fit Military spending also provides stable economies for a lot of countries. Also conflict seems to happen in regions where there are no military spending. Would US have gone into wars with Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan or Iraq if they had military spending (or nuclear warheads)? What about Russian invasion of Ukraine, Georgia? Paradoxically may be its best that every country have strong military spending and a decent proportion of the population who are physically fit and working on technological advances even if it's military related. Innovations out of military almost always benefits general society.

deltaonefour 4y ago
Not "Always". A lot of spending in the military is wasteful. This typically means a lot of people just are free loading. Then again there's a lot of consumer tech that comes out of military research like the internet.
- yardstick 4y ago
  > A lot of spending in the military is wasteful. This typically means a lot of people just are free loading. Same could be said of any sufficiently large government run programme. Military, healthcare, social security, etc.
  - deltaonefour 4y ago
    I mean a lot of people do crime. Doesn't justify it.
  - KptMarchewa 4y ago
    Not only government run. Large corporations can be similarly inefficient.
    - deltaonefour 4y ago
      less so because of incentives. Capitalism is a bet saying that the incentives of the the commercial world makes it more efficient then an economy run by the government.
- formerkrogemp 4y ago
  The US military has never passed an audit. Never. It took over 3 decades for the first audit to take place.
jrochkind1 4y ago
> Also, military provides plenty of people to a) have a purpose b) be physically fit You know, have we considered maybe a massive increase in sporting leagues? The kind where generally people don't get murdered? Training people to kill each other and then having them do so seems a literally sociopathic way of accomplishing the end of physical fitness and giving people a purpose, no? A massive network of athletic tournaments and government-subsidized athletes would probably be a lot cheaper for the outcome too. I get this isn't really why we have militaries (I think? I hope?). I honestly think it's a pretty ridiculous suggestion to make that it is, or that it justifies them. If the military expenditure is to be justified, it's sure not for that.
gcheong 4y ago
The problem isn’t that the military can provide a sense of purpose or physical fitness it’s that there are so few structured alternatives outside the military for those not wanting to find purpose in a system that designs ever creative ways of killing other humans.

deltaonefour 4y ago

Not "Always". A lot of spending in the military is wasteful. This typically means a lot of people just are free loading. Then again there's a lot of consumer tech that comes out of military research like the internet.

yardstick 4y ago
> A lot of spending in the military is wasteful. This typically means a lot of people just are free loading. Same could be said of any sufficiently large government run programme. Military, healthcare, social security, etc.
- deltaonefour 4y ago
  I mean a lot of people do crime. Doesn't justify it.
- KptMarchewa 4y ago
  Not only government run. Large corporations can be similarly inefficient.
  - deltaonefour 4y ago
    less so because of incentives. Capitalism is a bet saying that the incentives of the the commercial world makes it more efficient then an economy run by the government.
formerkrogemp 4y ago
The US military has never passed an audit. Never. It took over 3 decades for the first audit to take place.

jrochkind1 4y ago

> Also, military provides plenty of people to a) have a purpose b) be physically fit You know, have we considered maybe a massive increase in sporting leagues? The kind where generally people don't get murdered? Training people to kill each other and then having them do so seems a literally sociopathic way of accomplishing the end of physical fitness and giving people a purpose, no? A massive network of athletic tournaments and government-subsidized athletes would probably be a lot cheaper for the outcome too. I get this isn't really why we have militaries (I think? I hope?). I honestly think it's a pretty ridiculous suggestion to make that it is, or that it justifies them. If the military expenditure is to be justified, it's sure not for that.

gcheong 4y ago

The problem isn’t that the military can provide a sense of purpose or physical fitness it’s that there are so few structured alternatives outside the military for those not wanting to find purpose in a system that designs ever creative ways of killing other humans.