With the US Senate passing a $60 billion war funding bill while failing to extend unemployment benefits(wars get funded, communities don't), it's worth taking a look at how much the United States spends on war.
Bill Quigley, a law professor at Loyola University New Orleans and Legal Director for the Center for Constitutional Rights, says the United States is much closer to permanent war than permanent peace, and that corporations are making enormous profits from it. Indeed, when it comes to war the US is number one, he says. War is big business.
Quigley writes: "This coming year the US will spend 708 billion dollars on war and another $125 billion for Veterans Affairs over $830 billion. In a distant second place is China which spent about $84 billion on its military in 2008. The US also leads the world in the sale of lethal weapons to others, selling about one of every three weapons worldwide. The USA's major clients? South Korea, Israel and United Arab Emirates. Our country has 5 percent of the world's population but accounts for more than 40% of the military spending for the whole world."
With unemployment in the US edging close to 10% and people losing their homes and businesses, it's nice to know where the priorities are.
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