Thursday, April 3, 2008

We're Getting Hosed, Folks

Here's a list of the world's top 10 military spenders and the approximate amounts each country currently budgets for its military establishment:

1. United States (FY08 budget), $623 billion
2. China (2004), $65 billion
3. Russia, $50 billion
4. France (2005), $45 billion
5. Japan (2007), $41.75 billion
6. Germany (2003), $35.1 billion
7. Italy (2003), $28.2 billion
8. South Korea (2003), $21.1 billion
9. India (2005 est.), $19 billion
10. Saudi Arabia (2005 est.), $18 billion

We spend about ten times as much on military expenditures than our closest competitor in this regard, and we spend more than the nine other leaders in military spending *combined* -- by a long shot. This, of course, is utterly fucking ridiculous. Folks, we don't need to spend this much. Did you know that we could solve *all* our financial problems in this country with that money, including health care, social security, education, etc., by a long shot, if we chose to spend the money now allocated to military spending on the former tasks instead? We're getting hosed, folks. The only people profiting are the weapons-building corporations who lobby their asses of for our tax money to pay for their "products".

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