Global spending on defense is rising at the expense of social needs
The ‘peace dividend’ years are over
As a result, defence budgets are rising relentlessly, which not only augurs ill for peace, but has created the worst possible squeeze for governments as they face a long and intimidating queue of spending demands – from post-Covid healthcare costs and subsidies on household energy bills, to the daunting costs of arresting global warming – and no obvious evidence of where the needed funds will come from.
Most governments are already wrestling with record debt.
- The International Monetary Fund expects global public debt to pass US$100 trillion this year.
- As governments wring their hands over rising defense spending squeezing the bread-and-butter parts of the budget, the irony is that military hawks in the United States are anguished that spending on debt service is set to rise to US$870 billion this year, surpassing for the first time the defense budget (US$822 billion).
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