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Comment by JTon | Hacker News Reader

It begs an interesting question: does defense spending have a positive ROI? I don't know the answer to this question. But I'm thinking funding R&D, trade route protections, and perhaps some nefarious things can all contribute positively to American interests and thus American society.

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Ginormous defence spending is how the US do a "social state". That's pretty obvious once you see how defence money is peppered all across the country.

It doesn't mean its productive. We could be spending half a trillion on civil engineering to rebuild cities, roads, high speed rail, canals, etc. That has appreciable and visible benefits to society.

Occupying a desert on the other side of the world largely to disrupt oil pipelines seems less effective as stimulus.

It's a republican jobs program.

Nah the defense industry is smarter than that - it's a bipartisan industry. F-35s have components that are built in every state for a reason.

Which also begs the question: How many such projects in different industries (eg, agriculture, aviation, food, healthcare, etc) would need a slice of that defense pie?

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[Note: I'm not advocating for/against the idea of the parent comment, just adding a layer to it]

> "It begs an interesting question: does defense spending have a positive ROI?"

It's analogous to the question: Does homeowner's fire insurance have a positive ROI? The answer is no only if the homeowner's house doesn't burn down and it's enlightening to look up how many house fires occur daily.

If that's not compelling then perhaps contemplate what would people have said the ROI for national readiness for a pandemic was a decade ago and what they would say today.

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