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By that definition, war is extremely productive



At least a few evil people attack once in a while thus proving some defense is needed so they they are not completely unproductive/useless. Much as I wish they were not needed.


what evil ppl? what attack?


Putin is attacking Ukraine right now. There have been various coups and attempted coups around the world. Nigeria and South Korea both come to mind.


This is not our concern? The US is safe.


As far as I can tell, the war hasn’t killed Putin, and instead killed tens of thousands of men in their 20s and lots of innocent families


It is though, more value is generated by the MIC than is put in and war has yet to ruin the productive capacity of the United States. The societal ills of this are why it’s popular to call America an evil empire



No actually, that's about the opportunity cost of war. There's a left-wing argument I frequently see that the US finds wars to increase profitability but I'm talking about the propping up of firms to keep the industrial capacity ready. It is not the most productive use of capital, but it is productive.


Ready for what? War with China or Russia? Do you really think multibillion dollar aircraft carriers are what would win that war?


Ready for whatever the pentagon wants.


I don’t want a trillion dollars a year to spent so that the pentagon can have whatever it wants


I don't either, and I don't want a war with either Russia or China nor do I want the slow escalation that is currently happening. But the political reality is that the US will not be decreasing defense spending any time soon. There's no voting this situation away.



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