Thursday, July 06, 2006
Military Spending: $162 Apiece—For Everybody
Yesterday, this came through the emails. Sometimes, it seems like no matter how often we point out the incredible expense and waste of the military budget, it just keeps getting bigger. It’s not just the US, either: war is good business. Imagine: military spending amounts to $162 for each child, each man, and each woman on earth. That’s insanity.
NEWS DISSECTOR July 5, 2006
The World Council of Churches reports:
”In 2004, world military expenditures reached $1 trillion - an average of $162 per person. The United States accounted for nearly half, 47%, of the total. There was a reduction in military spending at the end of the Cold War and until 1998. Since then, there has been an increasing trend; from 2002 to 2004 there was an annual average increase of about 6% in real terms (adjusted for inflation).
"The recent increase reverses the reduction following the Cold War in 1991- world military expenditures in 2004 were only 6% lower in real terms than at the peak of the Cold War.
"The greatest single factor in this increase is the United States, which has rapidly increased spending since 2002 due mainly to the military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"The United States is the foremost contributor of global military expenditures - the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimated the percentage in 2004 at 47% with 455.3 billion US dollars, nearly 10 times the amount spent by the next largest spender, the UK, at 47.4 billion…
NEWS DISSECTOR July 5, 2006
The World Council of Churches reports:
”In 2004, world military expenditures reached $1 trillion - an average of $162 per person. The United States accounted for nearly half, 47%, of the total. There was a reduction in military spending at the end of the Cold War and until 1998. Since then, there has been an increasing trend; from 2002 to 2004 there was an annual average increase of about 6% in real terms (adjusted for inflation).
"The recent increase reverses the reduction following the Cold War in 1991- world military expenditures in 2004 were only 6% lower in real terms than at the peak of the Cold War.
"The greatest single factor in this increase is the United States, which has rapidly increased spending since 2002 due mainly to the military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"The United States is the foremost contributor of global military expenditures - the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimated the percentage in 2004 at 47% with 455.3 billion US dollars, nearly 10 times the amount spent by the next largest spender, the UK, at 47.4 billion…
