Buying Security

I ran across a couple of BBC articles that point out how the US is armed to the teeth and still feeling insecure.

This article has a nice graphic that points out how much is spent on weapons and troops and violence:

This is summarized by this statement in the article:

Global military spending rose 45% between 1999 and 2008, fuelled by the US-led "war on terror" and by increased wealth in China, Russia and the Middle East.

By the way, I'm reading CIA analyst Bruce Riedel's book The Search for al Qaeda and he points out that this about the "war on terror":

The president chose to declare war not on al Qaeda, but on "terrorism," a concept that he and Vice President Cheney arrived at by confusing 9/11 with Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

I would say purposefully confusing 9/11 with Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

This article points out that the US far exceeds any other region on earth in terms of spending on the military:

Defence spending 2008
US $374bn
Asia $173bn
European Nato members $144bn

I'm always amazed at the short-sightedness of people. Money invested now creates benefits in the future. But people would rather go around blowing up and burning down things. As this article points out:

... some $2.4 trillion (£1.5tr), or 4.4%, of the global economy "is dependent on violence", according to the Global Peace Index, referring to "industries that create or manage violence" - or the defence industry.

Even relatively poor countries would rather spend money to threaten and destroy rather than to create and improve:

... China, which has doubled its defence budget since 2006 and is planning yet another 15% rise in its official defence budget this year to 480bn yuan ($70bn; £43bn)

The hope is that the additional defence spending should act as a fiscal stimulus and thus help to get the Chinese economy's wheels turning even faster.

China is not the only Asian country to boost its defence budgets.

Last year, Asia overtook Europe as the second-biggest military spender ($173bn), after the US ($374bn) and ahead of European Nato members ($144bn), according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).

I find the logic of "spending on defence to 'help' the economy" to be bizarre. If you want to help the economy, spend money on education, on infrastructure, on factories, on universities and research institutes, on increasing the number of scientists and engineers dedicated to creating a better future.