Guns and Butter

Our priorites translated to dollars and cents:

The U.S. military budget for the coming year is projected at 420 billion dollars. We have spent 247 billion dollars fighting the Iraq War thus far.

An annual budget of 19 billion dollars would eliminate starvation and malnutrition worldwide.

An annual budget of 15 billion dollars would provide access to water and sanitation, and 23 billion dollars annually reverses the spread of AIDS and malaria everywhere.

Socially conscious investors know where their money should go. Responsible investments screen against companies significantly involved in weapons production. The defense industry is concentrated in only a handful of companies and they receive the majority of contracts from the Department of Defense. SRI screens against companies that receive 10 percent or more of their revenues from weapons contractors.

We have the means to end suffering…. Here’s an example:

On today’s battlefields, soldier-chefs have advanced mobile food service systems that can meet the challenge of feeding our soldiers in a matter of hours. Once a containerized kitchen arrives on site, it can be fully operational in 45 minutes, and within three hours have enough food prepared to feed 800 troops. Imagine how that could have helped the victims of Hurricane Katrina, all those suffering at the Superdome, struggling to get some bread and fresh water.

Ingenuity is nothing without intention.