Over the long term, military assest purchase are negative-sum (it costs money each year to keep them in shape) investments while productive assets are positive-sum investments.
We're currently having a big fight in my hometown, Tallahassee, FL, over a coal plant that's being built in the neighboring county. Tallahassee in a very Democratic city in a very Republican area of the country, and so, naturally, we're not wild about funding a new power plant based on coal. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
