The economic burden of military expenditure
Posted: May 12th, 2012 | Author: Tom van der Made | Filed under: Economics, Government, International Relations, Military, National economy | Tags: balance, budget, China, defence, economic recession, economy, expenditure, military expenses, priorities, US, world power
As the issue has been brought up in my previous blog, (India; one of the big boys), the current topic will further question the issue of military expenditure.
An illustration suggesting that military spending negatively affects the economy.
Victor Davis Hanson, writer for the National Review, has stated that in times of economic crisis, there are two general rules of budgetary reform, first, to scale back expenditures rather than raise taxes, and, second, to look at defence for some of the deepest cuts. The question is when nations decide not to reduce but further increase military spending during an economic crisis, what will be the impact on economic growth and development or other economic areas such as international debt and corruption?
Could the money invested in to military expenses be better off spent on other priorities? What are and should be the priorities in this time and day? These questions should concern everyone around the world. As the34th US President, Dwight David Eisenhower, former five-star General in the United States Army during World War II, mentioned in 1953, “This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its labourers, the genius of its scientists, and the hopes of its children”. Read the rest of this entry »
