Annual Military Spending 2019

        Annual Military Spending 2019                 

             

Rank	Country	Annual Spending in US $
1	United States	$732,000,000,000.00
2	China	$261,000,000,000.00
3	India	$71,100,000,000.00
4	Russian Federation	$65,100,000,000.00
5	Saudi Arabia	$61,900,000,000.00
6	France	$50,100,000,000.00
7	Germany	$49,300,000,000.00
8	United Kingdom	$48,700,000,000.00
9	Japan	$47,600,000,000.00
10	South Korea	$43,900,000,000.00
11	Australia	$27,500,000,000.00
Total of #2-11	(The Next 10 Nations)	$726,200,000,000.00

   These are the latest figures from SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) on annual military spending for 2019. They were flashed on the screen by Fareed Zakaria on his CNN show this last weekend. Our nation spends more on our military annually than the next ten nations combined spend on theirs. We exceed their total expenditure by nearly six billion dollars. I found that hard to believe, so I researched it. These numbers don't include North Korea because North Korea doesn't open its accounting to the folks in Stockholm, but if they did, the chart would look about the same because North Korea is a small industrial nation that according to US State Department estimates spent between $3.7 billion and $4.2 billion in 2017. Italy spends over 5 times that much on their military and they didn't make the Top 11 List.

So what do the nations on this chart have in common? Well, all but The United States and Saudi Arabia offer their citizens universal health care. The largest industrial nation in the world “can't afford it” and the Saudis, who brought you 9/11, could care less about their citizens. Care is for the Crown.

Would you expect US to win more often, seeing the above figures? I would, but I may not be giving enough weight to the fact that our Army is always playing an away game. Perhaps it doesn't matter if we win or lose. It may only be important that we spend the money. Spending money on the military is a bipartisan endeavor. “Have gun will travel” reads the card of our nation. As the chart shows, the industrial military lobbyists are more powerful than anyone you elect. They slop over in to civilian arms sales as well. Perhaps that is why gun safety legislation, with 70% popular support never makes it into legislation. So many wonderful things (and people) money can buy.

Look to the above list for the reason the most powerful industrial nation in the world doesn't have free K-16 quality education, universal free health care, improved infrastructure, a reliable renewable energy grid and intelligent gun legislation. Every time we spend another billion on our military, another cigar butt is thrown from a yacht into the Mediterranean and a thousand human beings die.

Cheers, Old Buz 3/25/2021                                                         iambloggerbuz.blogspot.com