4 ms·

The economy is not some game where millions of people needlessly do actions for no purpose. We don't hire people at great expense to purposelessly move mountain

The economy is not some game where millions of people needlessly do actions for no purpose. We don't hire people at great expense to purposelessly move mountains between states, or rip each others hair out. The economy allocates resources. The fact that some of the wasted dollars spent on needless militarism splashes back into producing food for some of the people that were taxed in the first place isn't a goal, its a pitiful side effect. The same resources could have been used to further spaceflight, AI, public health, peace, or the environment in or outside of public spending. Warfare is a hellish waste.

ceejayoz 12y ago
> The same resources could have been used to further spaceflight, AI, public health, peace, or the environment in or outside of public spending. Warfare is a hellish waste. It's by no means perfect, but military spending has greatly benefited spaceflight, AI, public health (aid after disasters, advanced prosthetics), etc.
- ptaipale 12y ago
  As a minor example we might mention the Internet, which basically grew out of projects funded by DARPA. DARPA by the way was originally started up by Eisenhower, who someone mentioned in another comment.
- nickik 12y ago
  While this is but that only looking at one part of the coin, its very hard to say what outcomes would have happend if these resources were allocated diffrently, either by markets or some other governemnt programm. The hole idea that 'lets make war and we will probebly get some side benefits out of it' is not substainable, we could have any arbitrary goal and dumb money on the problem and we will get side benefits.
orbifold 12y ago
A lot of it comes back to the broken education system in the US. The military and prison system absorb some of the least employable and underprivileged young men and women. In the case of the military it gives them a sense of purpose and pride. In the best case they either learn a trade or can go to college afterwards. And as a sibling comment points out, military spending has for the longest time been used for high technology research (Bell labs, MIT etc.).
- wtbob 12y ago
  > The military and prison system absorb some of the least employable and underprivileged young men and women. Have you ever actually met someone in the military, or does your knowledge come from movies and TV? The vast majority of Americans don't meet the military's standards; our officer and enlisted corps are some of the most employable people in the country. They're smart, capable and dedicated, precisely what one wants in employees.

ceejayoz 12y ago

> The same resources could have been used to further spaceflight, AI, public health, peace, or the environment in or outside of public spending. Warfare is a hellish waste. It's by no means perfect, but military spending has greatly benefited spaceflight, AI, public health (aid after disasters, advanced prosthetics), etc.

ptaipale 12y ago
As a minor example we might mention the Internet, which basically grew out of projects funded by DARPA. DARPA by the way was originally started up by Eisenhower, who someone mentioned in another comment.
nickik 12y ago
While this is but that only looking at one part of the coin, its very hard to say what outcomes would have happend if these resources were allocated diffrently, either by markets or some other governemnt programm. The hole idea that 'lets make war and we will probebly get some side benefits out of it' is not substainable, we could have any arbitrary goal and dumb money on the problem and we will get side benefits.

orbifold 12y ago

A lot of it comes back to the broken education system in the US. The military and prison system absorb some of the least employable and underprivileged young men and women. In the case of the military it gives them a sense of purpose and pride. In the best case they either learn a trade or can go to college afterwards. And as a sibling comment points out, military spending has for the longest time been used for high technology research (Bell labs, MIT etc.).

wtbob 12y ago
> The military and prison system absorb some of the least employable and underprivileged young men and women. Have you ever actually met someone in the military, or does your knowledge come from movies and TV? The vast majority of Americans don't meet the military's standards; our officer and enlisted corps are some of the most employable people in the country. They're smart, capable and dedicated, precisely what one wants in employees.