Vicarious

About ten years ago Volunteer Now! came out with a report called "Consumerism" that focused on global priorities in spending in 1998. Figures were as follows:

Cosmetics in U.S.....$8 billion
Cigarettes in Europe.....$50 billion
Alcoholic drinks in Europe.....$105 billion
Narcotic drugs in the world.....$400 billion
Global military spending.....$780 billion

Compare to the estimated costs of providing universal access to basic social services in all developing countries:

Basic education for all.....$6 billion
Clean water and sanitation for all.....$9 billion
Reproductive health for all women.....$12 billion
Basic health and nutrition for all.....$13 billion
Total.....$40 billion

So, $780 billion on military spending and we can't scrimp out a measly $40 billion to provide basic human necessities for the people who need it most? With what excuse exactly? Security? I can say with all certainty that providing any of these services to developing countries would do so much more for collective security than building F-22 Raptors for $143 million-a-piece...and that's with 1998 numbers. Today global military spending is at approximately $1.5 trillion.

Something to think about.