Why are we spending so much R&D on defense?

[RC]

How much does it cost to tap our phones and e-mail anyway?

[MadisonProgressive]

1. Because we plan to BLOW PEOPLE UP!

[junefl]

2. The US Military Spending is more than the next 10 countries combined

Can you imagine that adding Russia, China, UK, France and all the 10 next countries and together they still spend less on military than the United States?

[punpirate]

8. Actually, it's much higher than that...

... as of about mid-2005, the US is now spending more on defense than all other nations combined. And that's just according to official appropriations--the actual amount spent by the US is much higher.

The primary problem with defense R&D is that some of it is first used to make threat assessments far, far into the future. Once someone dreams up a potential threat, there is then R&D money to develop counter-threat devices and processes and then there's contract money to put those devices and processes into production. By that time, someone has dreamed up a new threat even further into the future, and the process starts all over again.

[JuniperLea]

3. Notice how when W talks about the budget

He says things like, we are spending less across the board in "non-defense" tax dollars.

The defense dollars seem to be a lot easier for the BushCo & HalliCheney types to steal. They sure aren't spending it on armored vehicles and safety equipment for our kids in Iraq!

[Gato Moteado]

4. because they plan on buying body armor.....

....for everyone that lives within a mile of cheney's next hunting trip.

[FloridaPat]

5. The defense budget includes the Star Wars fiasco which has

never worked and was thrown out by Clinton. * brought it back. It will cost close to a $trillion and has yet to actually hit a moving target that doesn't have a radio transmitter. But it will protect us against Korea's missles.

The salaries for the troops are in the defense budget, not the emergency money * asks for every few months.

There are also all those other defense r&d that probably won't work either.

[acmejack]

6. DARPA

Darpa commisions lots of advanced research always has. They paid for my keep during my merecenary phase. Think internet=darpanet=arpanet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA

DARPA Home

[DeadManInc]

7. fighting them thar terrist ain't cheap.