Andrew Bacevich: Cost Conscious Helping
on Sunday, July 19, 2015Andrew Bacevich Money Quotation saying budget conscious politicians prevent humanitarian aid while easily accepting large defense budgets to finance war. Andrew Bacevich said:
“You know, we live in a country where if you want to go bomb somebody, there’s remarkably little discussion about how much it might cost. But when you have a discussion about whether or not we can assist people who are suffering, then suddenly we come very, you know, cost-conscious” — Andrew Bacevich
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In this quote, Andrew Bacevich is drawing a comparison between how costs are considered for military action versus humanitarian aid.
His interpretation is that there tends to be much less scrutiny or debate about the financial costs of using military force or bombing other nations. However, when the issue is assisting people in need through aid or welfare programs, the discussion suddenly shifts to a tighter focus on budgetary expenses.
Bacevich’s view seems to be that there is a double standard, where spending on defense and offense faces less resistance or cost analysis than spending aimed at helping citizens dealing with problems at home or abroad.
The overall message is one of criticism towards what he perceives as an imbalance in how easily military budgets are approved versus funding to alleviate human suffering.