Tuesday, April 30, 2019


THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX 
AND 
THE PERMANENT ARMS ECONOMY TODAY



U.S. tops world in defense spending; Russia falls out of top 5













April 29 (UPI) -- The United States spent more than any other country on defense in 2018, but Russia fell out of the top five for the first time in nearly 15 years, a report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said Monday.

The report detailed regional and selected national military expenditure data for 2018 and trends over the past 10 years. The SIPRI database outlines military spending by countries from 1949 to 2018.


According to the report, the United States spent $649 billion on defense for 2018, far and away more than any other country, followed by China with $250 billion and Saudi Arabia with $67.6 billion. India spent $66 billion and France nearly $64 billion. Russia was sixth, with $61.4 billion.


"Starting in 2016, Russia's military budget has trended downwards," the report said. "However, due to a one-off government debt repayment of almost $11.8 billion to Russian arms producers in 2016, spending rose 7.2 percent. Without this payment, Russia military spending would have fallen by 11 percent."


The report noted Russia spending is still 27 percent higher than it was in 2009. Russia had been in the top five since 2006.

U.S. spending increased by 4.6 percent and continues to spend more on defense than the next eight countries combined, the study said.


Concern over Russia's military, though, continues to drive spending in Europe. Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, Latvia and Lithuania all showed an increase in military spending.

"The increases in Central and Eastern Europe are largely due to growing perceptions of a threat from Russia," Pieter Wezeman, a senior researcher at SIRPI, said. "This is despite the fact that Russian military spending has fallen for the past two years."

by M Zubair - ‎Related articles
The permanent arms economy originated with Sard, Oakes and Vance (1944)
 and was extended by the neo Marxist economist Michel Kidron in the late sixties ...



Jun 25, 2010 - Further, the larger the extent of the arms economy, the greater the levels ..... Mike Kidron had been thinking about the effects of military spending since ...... http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/files/pdfs/peace/ITFL_trident_report.pdf.

Jan 6, 2008 - Michael Kidron: A Permanent Arms Economy (Spring 1967)
Missing: PDF

Jul 15, 2017 - Your starting point for the works of Michael Kidron (Mike Kidron) in English. ... In particular he developed the theory of the Permanent Arms Economy as an explanation of the long post-war .... Manual in Mufti (book review) ...



Feb 11, 2011 - production, whereas permanent war economics is used to describe .... Kidron recognized the fact that during war or in permanent arms ..... Kidron, Michael (1967): A Permanent Arms Economy, International Socialism, 1: 28, Spring 1967, p-1. 19. ... http://www.fes.de/ipg/inhalt_d/pdf/10_Schetter_US.pdf. 30.





The warfare state and economic decline: 
toward a comparative political economy of militarism
 in Canada and the U.S.

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