Sunday, March 11, 2012

Preventing War Is Cheaper than Fighting It

According to the Friends Committee on National Legislation "Research has indicated that investing early to prevent conflicts from escalating into violent crises is, on average, 60 times more cost effective than intervening after violence erupts."

The FCNL goes on to say that "the world spends just $1 on conflict prevention for every $1,885 it spends on military budgets. Here in the U.S., less than 2% of income tax goes to civilian foreign affairs agencies; meanwhile, 39% goes to the military."

The FCNL points out that almost $1 billion of taxpayer dollars are spent each year for our military academies, but only about $40 million goes to fund the United States Institute of Peace, which is the only U.S. agency dedicated to conflict prevention and peacebuilding.


Download the FCNL flyer (pdf file) and find more of what the U.S. could accomplish if it budgeted for peace, not war.

Then saith Jesus to him, "Return thy sword to its place; for all who take the sword shall perish by the sword."
Matthew 26:52


Peace, Love, and Light!
Kevin (Cloud)

4 comments:

Toblerone said...

Very cool stats! War also costs many more human lives...

Hippie Christian said...

Yes, the true "Peace Dividend"!

D.M. said...

I agree that preventing war is cheaper than fighting it, especially when you consider the cost of human souls more than dollars!!

Hippie Christian said...

We need to rethink what tools we have available when dealing with conflict in the world. When all we invest in is bombs and rockets then the only solution we see is a military one.