20% is just the DOD money. I know the figures better from the 80's but the same principle applies (even if it is not as high as 50% nowadays but given war spending it probably is). The 50% figure is what you get when you add military foreign aid and weapons r&d (probably also things like military pensions). It truly is a vast amount of money.
What is ironic during the Cold War is that military infrastructure was relatively poor (like the rest of the country), e.g. airfields, apparently because spending driven by procuring and the lobbying clout of construction companies didn't stack up against weapons providers. The 80's era book Defense by James Fallows made the point that companies that did both defense and non-defense typically "hermetically sealed" off the defense divisions because the business practices were so bizarre and corrupt. mike <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: She claims we've used 1/3 of the total of earth's natural resource. In her fancy graphic she shows things like trees being cut down...wow a third of all forests are decimated? In 3 decades? wow. Oh wait...forested areas have remained relatively stable since the early 1900's since companies that log these forests know that if you don't plant also they would have been out of business in 1909. Since no one really knows for sure how much coal or oil or natural gas lies under ground it's hard to pinpoint using 1/3 of it in the last 30 years. She also states offhandedly that almost 50% of the federal budget goes to military. Most estimates point closer to 20% even with adjustments made for bush's war(s). This is all in the first few minutes of her introduction. Are things like oil resources and natural gas finite? Sure. I'm all for using alternative energy, anything dumping crap into the air, we should find cleaner ways. I just prefer facts, If you have to convince me with half truths and exaggerations I'll be cynical of your argument. She likes the word crisis...said the same in newsweek in the seventies when global cooling was the 'crisis'. Mike On Jan 11, 2008 12:02 PM, Vicky Staubly wrote: > On Fri, 11 Jan 2008, mike wrote: > > Yer right...never mind silly things like facts, as long as you think you > are > > doing something yer ok. > > I'm curious what facts you think they got wrong? Do you contend that > the Earth is NOT finite? Have you found a secret, infinitely long, > penninsula of land somewhere? > > > On Jan 11, 2008 11:11 AM, Steve Rigby wrote: > >> On Jan 11, 2008, at 12:31 PM, mike wrote: > >> > >>> You think a little off topic? Maybe you should have sent that to a > >>> moveon.org group. Informative seems to mean fast and loose. > >> > >> Why aren't you out shopping? > >> > >> Steve > > -- > Vicky Staubly http://www.steeds.com/vicky/ [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > ************************************************************************ > * ==> QUICK LIST-COMMAND REFERENCE - Put the following commands in <== > * ==> the body of an email & send 'em to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <== > * Join the list: SUBSCRIBE COMPUTERGUYS-L Your Name > * Too much mail? Try Daily Digests command: SET COMPUTERGUYS-L DIGEST > * Tired of the List? Unsubscribe command: SIGNOFF COMPUTERGUYS-L > * New address? From OLD address send: CHANGE COMPUTERGUYS-L YourNewAddress > * Need more help? 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