3 ms·

What is meant by a "war economy"? It is nothing at all like WWII, if that's what you mean. The proportion of GDP spent on the military is high relative to othe

What is meant by a "war economy"? It is nothing at all like WWII, if that's what you mean. The proportion of GDP spent on the military is high relative to other contemporary peaceful countries, but it's tiny relative to countries involved in significant wars. I wonder what it is relative to the Cold War. Or is this a dramatic way of expressing something else? Are we looking for drama, caught up in it? That the mechanism of unnecessary wars.

jbboehr 3y ago
> I wonder what it is relative to the Cold War. According to this chart[0], US military spending as a percentage of GDP is pretty close to an all-time low. Sadly doesn't seem to include data covering WWII or Korea, though. I imagine the notable peaks might be related to: * '62 Cuban missile crisis (cold war) * '67 Vietnam (cold war) * '82, '86 "New Cold War"[1] * '05, '11 Post-9/11 wars But mostly downward after '91. Sadly this chart (Military expenditure (% of general government expenditure)) seems to be empty, but I'm sure there's data on it somewhere. [0]: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/MS.MIL.XPND.GD.ZS?locations=US https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/MS.MIL.XPND.GD.ZS?locat... [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#US_and_USSR_military_and_economic_issues https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#US_and_USSR_military_... [2]: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/MS.MIL.XPND.ZS?locations=US https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/MS.MIL.XPND.ZS?location...