“2.2 billion worth of military equipment had been stripped from U.S. Forces in West Germany and America and shipped to Israel in an unprecedented day and night airlift.” AmericaNightForceMilitaryWestJewIsraelBillionsGermanyEquipmentDay And NightUnprecedentedWest GermanyMilitary Equipment Author:George Scratchley Brown
“I want a strong military. But I do not believe, among other things, that without an audit, we should be throwing tens of billions of dollars more into the Department of Defense.” WantShouldBelieveStrongMilitaryDollarsDefenseBillionsDepartmentThrowing Author:Hillary Clinton
“The CIA was revealed to be spying in France, not for military purposes, but for corporate purposes. So this $30 billion spook agency is now at the disposal of these oligarchic corporate structures run by the 1%.” RunningPurposeMilitaryStructureBillionsFranceCorporateAgencyCia Author:Jerry Brown
“The reality is that there are half a billion kids in India, in villages, who have a pre-determined life. If they're very lucky and they're a gifted athlete, maybe they can compete for the Olympics, or maybe they can get into the military. But if you're not a gifted athlete, then you're going to end up working for your family and you're going to perpetuate what your family is. It's gotten to the point, in villages, where there's no hope. And the first spark of hope is when you ask yourself the question,"What gift did God give me that I can develop and use to better my life?"” IfsGivingFirstsI CanEndsUseRealityKidsAsksHalfMilitaryLuckyIndiaGive MeAthleteDeterminedBillionsOur FamilyVillageSparksOlympicsGiftedNo Hope Author:J. B. Bernstein
“we ought to realize by now (see Korea, see Vietnam, see Afghanistan, see Iraq, see Iran) that deploying the US military, or dealing billions of dollars a year of arms to our ally of the moment that can serve as a regional rival to our enemy of the moment, is not always the best way to make threats go away. Our military and weapons prowess is a fantastic and perfectly weighted hammer, but that doesn't make every international problem a nail.” WayYearsMomentsProblemRealizingEnemyMilitaryPolicyArmsOughtWeaponsDollarsThreatInternationalIraqBillionsBest WayFantasticIranGoing AwayAlliesAfghanistanVietnamForeign PolicyNailsHammersRivalsKoreaMilitarismProwessUs MilitaryDeploying Book:Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power Source: Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power
“We are spending hundreds of billions of dollars maintaining 5,000 nuclear weapons. I think we need major reform in the military, making it more cost effective, but also focusing on the real crisis that faces America.” ThinkingNeedsRealAmericaFacesMilitaryCostMajorsWeaponsCrisisDollarsSpendingNuclearBillionsReformNuclear WeaponsMaintaining Author:Bernie Sanders
“Higher education isn't just a personal investment. It's a public good that pays off in a more competitive workforce and better-informed and engaged citizens. Every year, we spend nearly $100 billion on corporate welfare, and more than $500 billion on defense spending. Surely ensuring the next generation can compete in the global economy is at least as important as subsidies for big business and military adventures around the globe. In fact, I think we can and must go further - not just making public higher education tuition-free, but reinventing education in America as we know it.” ThinkingKnowsYearsImportantFactsBigsAmericaNextPayEducationEconomyGenerationsMilitaryCollegeAdventureHigherCitizensInvestmentSpendingDefenseBillionsCorporateWelfareEngagedGlobesNext GenerationBig BusinessHigher EducationGlobal EconomyWorkforceSubsidiesPublic GoodTuitionReinventingEducation In AmericaCollege TuitionDefense Spending Author:Robert Reich
“Legalized drugs would cause dislocations in the US economy - the prison industry for example and tens of billions spent annually on drug enforcement. But because the US economy is so large, this would be a minor blow, hardly as severe as the ultimate nightmare for the US economy, global peace, which would shutter its death industry commonly called the military/industrial complex.” Would BeCausesEconomyMilitaryExampleIndustryDrugUltimatePrisonComplexesBlowBillionsNightmareMinorsSevereEnforcementShuttersMilitary Industrial ComplexDislocationGlobal Peace Author:Charles Bowden
“OK, so $1 trillion is what it costs to run the federal government for one year. So this money's going to run through September of 2016. Half of the trillion dollars goes to defense spending and the Pentagon. The other half goes to domestic spending - everything from prisons to parks. So there's also about 74 billion in there that goes to the military operations that we have ongoing in Iraq and Afghanistan and Syria.” YearsGovernmentRunningHalfMilitaryCostDollarsPrisonIraqSpendingDefenseBillionsOperationsParksAfghanistanSeptemberSyriaFederal GovernmentOngoingOther HalfPentagonMilitary OperationsDefense Spending Author:Susan Davis
“You cannot possibly expect even the most illiterate person on Earth to believe that you really want a democracy in Iraq while you are paying Mubarak $3 billion a year to pretend he doesn't hate Israel. And you're providing the military and diplomatic umbrella that protects the fascist government, if you will, of the al Sauds.” IfsWantYearsBelievePersonsGovernmentEarthHateDemocracyMilitaryProtectIraqIsraelBillionsAlsProvidingFascistsUmbrellaDiplomaticIlliterateMubarakIlliterate Person Author:Michael Scheuer
“The United States found dozens of billions of dollars for military action in Iraq, so it should certainly be able to find a few billions of dollars to get rid of weapons of mass destruction. I'll assume that since the most powerful nation - the United States - has promised to pay for much of this, then its word will be kept. If it isn't, I don't think we can have a true partnership.” IfsThinkingShouldStatesAbleActionFoundNationsUnitedPowerfulPayUnited StatesMilitaryWeaponsMassDestructionDollarsAssumingIraqBillionsMost PowerfulDozenPartnershipWeapons Of Mass DestructionMass DestructionMilitary Action Author:Mikhail Gorbachev
“The West is supporting, even financing the right-wing media, it is financing 'the opposition', encourages capital flight of billions of dollars, works closely with the local 'elites' to create 'deficits', 'uncertainty' and despair. It creates corruption scandals, and it even supports fake 'left' anti-government movements. And of course it is training and corrupting some key military cadres.” GovernmentCoursesLeftSupportMediaMilitaryMovementKeysDespairTrainingDollarsWingsWestCorruptionBillionsLocalsFlightUncertaintyFakeOppositionElitesScandalDeficitRight WingFinancingAnti GovernmentCadre Author:Andre Vltchek
“Instead of ending U.S. military aid to the 23rd wealthiest country to use for its consistent violations of international law and human rights, we see the Obama administration escalating the annual amount of aid, so that Israel will now start each year with almost $4 billion, with $3.8 billion a year of military aid coming from our tax money to support its military, without any restrictions on how it makes - how it uses that money, what weapons in the U.S. it's able to buy.” YearsHumansCountryUseAbleLawSupportRightsMilitaryAmountTaxesWeaponsInternationalHuman RightsIsraelAidsBillionsAdministrationConsistentRestrictionViolationAnnualsInternational LawEscalating Author:Phyllis Bennis
“The budget for nuclear forces in the United States is on the order of $25 billion or so. That includes warheads, delivery systems, command and control; does not include environmental clean-up, which is another maybe $10 billion or so. So that's about 5% of the U.S. military budget.” DoeStatesOrderForceUnitedUnited StatesMilitaryCleanEnvironmentalNuclearBillionsCommandBudgetsDeliveryMilitary BudgetCommand And Control Author:John Burroughs
“The collective shortfall of the 3.08 billion people (47 percent of world population) who, in 2005, lived below $2.50 per day was $507 billion per annum, which indeed comes to about two-thirds of the present US military budget. This gives us a rough sense of how much the eradication of poverty would cost.” PeopleWorldGivingTwoPovertyMilitaryCostPercentThirdsPopulationBillionsBudgetsCollectivesRoughWorld PopulationUs MilitaryMilitary Budget Author:Thomas Pogge