These are some numbers from Afghanistan.
US military expenditure for the war against (estimated): US $66 billion
GDP (Purchasing Power Parity): US $22.27 billion
So about three quarters of all money spent in that country is used for smashing and killing stuff. One quarter is used for everything else.
I don’t get the figures but isn’t that just incredible.
gem / 3:19pm / 8 December 2009
The first one is how much the US government will spend fighting the war next year. The second one is the value (by one measure) of every thing the economy produces in a year (food, construction, services, transport, etc). By comparison Australian GDP is about $1000 billion.
Ryan / 5:37pm / 8 December 2009
are you sure you’re not missing some notation?
Miles / 7:52pm / 9 December 2009
I could add some more in if you think it would be helpful.
Ryan / 8:45pm / 9 December 2009
Elaina / 2:17pm / 26 November 2010