COTW: Another Scary Trend

This chart is based on NATO expenditures in 2011 constant US$:

The world spends more on weapons than it does on energy supply. Weapons are an expense, not an investment since they do not generate returns, obsolesce quickly, and are intended to be expended. So $1.7tn less is available each year to invest in productive assets, reducing fossil fuel consumption or the necessities of life. The former Soviet Union had 27,000 nuclear warheads at one time and although there are no reports of missing or stolen Soviet nukes, it is probably only a matter of time before some lunatics obtain enough fissionable material to make a bomb. Nuclear accidents involving weapons-- so-called "Broken Arrow" events in military code--also occur. Goldsboro, North Carolina was one arming switch away out of six from suffering a nuclear explosion when a B-52G failed catastrophically in 1961 and released its Mark 39 nuclear payload. One unarmed bomb remains buried were it came to rest near the town of Eureka. As detective Phillip Marlowe put it, "My, my so many guns around town, and so few brains." For your further consideration: