World nuclear arms spending hit $73bn last year – half of it by US.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/13/nuclear-weapon...
"The U.S. government is now estimated to have 6,800 nuclear weapons at its disposal, but America hasn’t actually built a new warhead or bomb since the 1990s. “It has refurbished several types in recent years to extend their lifetime,”...The B61-12 atomic bombs, for instance, are to undergo a life-extension program that will cost roughly $9.5 billion. There are 400 to 500 of these bombs... which means refurbishing one will cost about $20 million.
W-80 warheads, another type being refurbished, are estimated to cost $75 million each ... the total cost of the W-80 life extension plan will be $7.3 billion to $9.9 billion over 17 years."
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/08/heres-how-much-a-nuclear-wea...
Sounds like serious money to me. More details about which companies are making the most money and how:
http://www.nuclearweaponsmoney.org/corporations/
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/01/02/20-companies...
It’s tiny. The claim I was arguing against was this:
> the armaments manufacturers who actually control our society
You can’t control society with 0.17% of US GDP!
Note also that most of that spending does not flow to arms contractors so the actual figure is less. The bulk is spend on the defense department and other government agencies.
Here’s the report your article cites. See page 9
https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/ican/pages/1549/attach...
>> the armaments manufacturers who actually control our society
> You can’t control society with 0.17% of US GDP!
That doesn't seem fair. The companies involved are involved in a lot more than nuclear weapons, as I guess you know. (see my last 2 links)
As I said, 0.17% of gdp covers all the spending, including on govt salaries. Only a portion of that actually goes to manufacturers.
PDF: https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/commercial_books/...
This kind of conspiracy thinking utterly ignores the horrifying logic of MAD. Read a bit about Bernard Brodie, pre-eminent strategist, he laid it all out for why deterrence was sadly the only way to go and that we must live in a state of mutually assured destruction.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Brodie_(military_str...