The Stake is Larger Than the Pole

I am not an economist, yet I can still calculate profit and loss. I am not a military strategist, but I can still assess whether it benefits our nation to emphasise military expenditure whilst other more pressing needs remain unaddressed.

In the late 1980s, Paul Kennedy, a history professor at Yale University in the United States, wrote the book “The Rise and Fall of Great Power”. He traced the circumstances of great powers between 1500 and 2000. There, he studied the relationship between military spending and economic decline of major nations.

Kennedy proposed his theory of Imperial Overstretch. Kennedy discovered that great powers tend to develop militarily while falling behind economically. Military budget expenditures are disproportionate to their economic conditions.

According to Kennedy, nations compete in building their economies, and once their economies begin to improve, these nations build military muscle to protect that economic growth.

Paul Kennedy gave examples of Spain, the Netherlands, France, and England. In fact, he already predicted the fall of the United States and the Soviet Union at that time.

I suddenly recalled this basic lesson I learnt whilst studying in the United States, after witnessing the current posture of government spending.

Between government expenditure and our economic capacity, there is a wide chasm. Not to mention if we discuss the priorities of needs and interests.

Currently, with exceptionally heavy and prolonged monsoon rains across the country, road infrastructure has suffered severe damage.

As a result, the smooth flow of logistics from production centres to consumers has been disrupted. Consequently, prices continue to rise, especially in the food sector.

Ironically, the central budget allocation to regions, under the pretext of efficiency, has been cut by dozens of percent. Therefore, repairing such infrastructure damage becomes extremely difficult.

So where lies the opportunity for improvement and acceleration of economic growth? Not to mention that government tax revenue continues to fall far short of targets. Thus, what remains is spending continuing to balloon whilst income shrinks.

Now, the government’s public policy is to undertake military equipment purchases and construct numerous military battalions.