Author: Alexander Schatzberg
In the twentieth century, two of the worst wars in history took place. More than 90 million people died as a result of these wars. Genocide, torture, and awful chemical weapons were used. You would think that these awful implications would be enough to end large-scale violent interactions, but no. War continues to rage around the globe. The horror that is war has been forgotten by the public, and people (some of them civilians) continue to die as a result. In the current Afganistan conflict, more than 100,000 people have died. In Mexico, a drug war rages. The casualties of this war include murder and assassination, as well as open battles. Despite the global problems that this world faces, governments and organizations continue to throw immense monetary sums into war. In the United States, the military takes up 15 percent (732 billion USD) of the budget. To put this in perspective, NASA takes .48 percent and does much better things for the world than the Military. For example, they have launched satellites that allow farmers to accurately predict their harvest. The budget that the nation’s employees and agencies are paid from. This is more than China, Russia, France, Saudi Arabia, India, Germany, The UK, South Korea, Japan, and Brazil combined. The strange thing is, Russia spends a little less than 80 billion USD per year on the military, and yet they are widely regarded as a rival in terms of military power to the U.S.. Now, this could be a lie, and they could be spending much more on their military. Another question that this high military budget raises is: what else could that money be used for? Surely, there is something. Well, for starters, it could be used to convert the U.S. to a renewable power source. If 300 billion of this budget (even without this money, the U.S. would still have the largest military budget in the world) was applied to converting the U.S. to sustainable energy, in fifteen years, the nation would be completely sustainable. Less than one percent of the budget goes to foreign aid, so think of all the amazing things that could be done for other countries if this budget was shifted. Some of that budget could be used to proved UBE (Universal Basic Income) to the citizens. Please consider voting for representatives who respect human rights, and can think of a better way to spend the U.S’s resources next election. Sources https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ongoing_armed_conflicts https://www.pgpf.org/chart-archive/0053_defense-comparison#:~:text=Defense%20spending%20accounts%20for%2015,of%20the%20annual%20federal%20budget.
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