I am writing this from the point of view of a British citizen, and the facts apply to many countries which face similar problems. The current high defense spending, compared with little investment in creating jobs and lack of investment in new industries are breaking economies into pieces.
As we know, the G20 leaders have met (including President Obama) to propose budget cuts, which I notice don't include reducing defense spending.

All the talk of 'cuts' has detoured people from the real issues- employment and building up a GDP.
Just what have young people to look forward to here in Britain? It is very expensive to go to University and get a real qualification. British Government seriously needed to implement fortnightly studying benefits as Australia have, to encourage young people to obtain qualifications. Australia has a wealth of qualified people and don't need people from other nations to work their farms, industries and technological jobs. British students have to take a student bank loan, and a typical U.K student debt is between fifteen thousand and thirty thousand pounds sterling...Britain has a lack of qualified people and little chance of quickly creating any new industry.

Britain has sold off their industries over the decades and now imports far too much, and that is the main problem...
What would be the point of going through University,build up a huge bank debt with few prospects of job growth?
Government has lost the plot. Previous British Governments didn't safeguard our industries- and housing availability is at a crisis point. 5 million extra houses need to be built to accommodate a growing population and to bring house prices down, but property developers won't do that because they make more from high house prices.
There are millions of young people forced into a very expensive, jobless future.
I say to politicians, what kind of joke are you having at your G20 meetings, because I'm not laughing and I don't share your 'for the camera' smiles and laughs, while the real crisis is lack of industry, jobs and an expensive University/College system.

Why don't Governments invest in creating massive solar and wind farms industries, to replace a large part of petrol-fueled electricity generators?  At the same time, pay student benefits to train people into engineering jobs, to build and maintain those new renewable energy industries? Money would be saved in the future from not needing to import fuels to run electricity generators (which run power for most services like electricity supplies, sewerage, water supply etc) , and sales from renewable energy manufacturing exports would create a lot of revenue-and there would be less unemployed benefit claimants.

Investment and training money could come from any new taxes and by *reducing defense spending* -enough to get such a project underway. The money made from new industries and would eventually create GDP growth, job growth would make money for inland revenue (and would boost banks) ,and invite lots of investors into such projects.
For America to reduce defense spending would be a massive boost for the U.S, and help create a strong economy which would also help pull other countries out of the economic crisis.
There must be so many other types of industry which could be built by Governments ,creating millions of jobs and would mean countries would import a lot less goods from other countries. Britain needs investment in the youth,in providing benefits for University, investment in new industry to become a producer of goods and more self-sufficient and less of a spender on foreign fuels and goods.

Or has Government left it all too late, and will the debt problem in itself prevent any such good ideas?
What is the secret,hidden agenda of our Governments? What is their magic remedy to reduce debt?
Does Government have a long-term strategy to create new industries,such as alternative power and other production lines to create millions of new jobs?

Perhaps our allied Governments are hoping to cash in on the 1 trillion dollars of resources found in Afghanistan, and don't have much else on their minds but benefiting from profiting from Afghanistan. Is that the reason a 5 year timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan has been made, because within that time, production sharing agreements will be made with the Afghan Government over the 1 trillion in Afghan resources. Is that the main mission in Afghanistan- not just 'implementing democracy' and training Afghan soldiers???

What are the Allied plans for Afghanistan's 1 trillion in resources, because the Afghan war looks like it is heading the way of Iraq- when America cashed in on Iraq's oil industries through production sharing agreements...We need to get to the bottom of Afghanistan's resource wealth, because the Government won't let out their plans.
Our countries all share a job crisis, high import costs, increasing jobless numbers due to lack of industry and extremely high defense spending...and there is no point making massive public spending cuts, increasing taxes and making money, just to see absolutely no new ideas to create a strong industry and improve GDP growth. I don't think Government are worried about the jobless numbers more than they worry about Afghanistan's 1 trillion in resource wealth...and how many other hidden bounties of trillions in resources are known by our Governments and which will suddenly appear in the regions of the Mid-East under an attack by America's policy of 'implementation of democracy' ?
All options are on the table...

The companies which will benefit from production sharing agreements in Afghanistan, as in Iraq, will undoubtedly make lots of money- but will that money really help to create new industries, new jobs and build up the GDP of countries in crisis?
What will happen to the massive profits made by such companies from Afghan and Iraqi resource wealth?
In the past, big financial institutions and companies which make the most money have literally laundered their profits to tax-havens, hiding tens and hundreds of billions , if not trillions from the tax systems of their countries.
President Obama's Presidential campaign pledge was to shut down tax-havens and stop the tax loopholes. But in reality, has he or any other leader made real progress to regain lost money and prevent future money laundering? We don't even know which corporations have laundered money,- and just maybe those defense companies themselves have Presidential authority to utilize the laundered money. In protecting a nation, a strong defense grid must be maintained, and that means always having funds available for the defense industries.
All options are on the table...

The biggest banks often fund defense manufacturing, so where exactly has the recent bailout money gone to ???
Does the bailout money sit in an offshore account, constantly ready to be drawn upon by military and defense industries?
We would never be told such information, but if I have illustrated this possibility of laundered money utilized by defense companies, the likelihood is that it is true...
Think of all the companies aligned with the profiteering of war in the Middle East, and just how we are easily distracted by 'budget cuts', tax increases, oil spills - meanwhile a war is raging and expanding and has been created merely to fulfill profiteering ventures more than 'implementing democracy.'

All options are on the table...
I'd like to see that table.

by Russell S.Wyllie