I APOLOGIZE FOR INACCURATELY QUOTING HOW MUCH THE US GOVERNMENT SPENDS ON WAR. For several years, I have been using a statistic that is grossly understated.
I often say that the US spends over 200, 000 dollars a minute on war. Sadly, I did some research and had a bunch of my mathematician friends check my numbers, and we were devastated by what we found. The actual numbers are at least 6 times worse than we thought.
The US currently spends over 1.2 million dollars a minute on militarism and war.
That’s 20, 000 dollars every second.
… as the country goes bankrupt.
It’s time to re-imagine things, isn’t it?
Here’s a good resource on how the numbers break down:
https://www.warresisters.org/sites/default/files/FY2012piechart-color.pdf
“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.” — Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Shane Claiborne is a prominent author, speaker, activist, and founding member of the Simple Way. He is one of the compilers of Common Prayer, a new resource to unite people in prayer and action. Shane is also helping develop a network called Friends Without Borders which creates opportunities for folks to come together and work together for justice from around the world.