What if Jesus really meant what he said?

I Apologize for Inaccurate Statistics on US Gov't War Spending

By Shane Claiborne

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I APOLOGIZE FOR INACCURATELY QUOTING HOW MUCH THE US GOVERNMENT SPENDS ON WAR. For several years, I have been using a statistic that is grossly understated.

I often say that the US spends over 200, 000 dollars a minute on war.  Sadly, I did some research and had a bunch of my mathematician friends check my numbers, and we were devastated by what we found.  The actual numbers are at least 6 times worse than we thought.

The US currently spends over 1.2 million dollars a minute on militarism and war.

That’s 20, 000 dollars every second.

… as the country goes bankrupt.

It’s time to re-imagine things, isn’t it?

Here’s a good resource on how the numbers break down:

https://www.warresisters.org/sites/default/files/FY2012piechart-color.pdf

“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”  — Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.


Shane Claiborne is a prominent author, speaker, activist, and founding member of the Simple Way.  He is one of the compilers of Common Prayer, a new resource to unite people in prayer and action. Shane is also helping develop a network called Friends Without Borders which creates opportunities for folks to come together and work together for justice from around the world.


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