"The U.S. government is now estimated to have 6,800 nuclear weapons at its disposal, but America hasn’t actually built a new warhead or bomb since the 1990s. “It has refurbished several types in recent years to extend their lifetime,”...The B61-12 atomic bombs, for instance, are to undergo a life-extension program that will cost roughly $9.5 billion. There are 400 to 500 of these bombs... which means refurbishing one will cost about $20 million.
W-80 warheads, another type being refurbished, are estimated to cost $75 million each ... the total cost of the W-80 life extension plan will be $7.3 billion to $9.9 billion over 17 years."
The US govt spends 7.3 trillion dollars per year. So that’s about 0.5% of spending. As a fraction of US GDP it’s about 0.17%.
It’s tiny. The claim I was arguing against was this:
> the armaments manufacturers who actually control our society
You can’t control society with 0.17% of US GDP!
Note also that most of that spending does not flow to arms contractors so the actual figure is less. The bulk is spend on the defense department and other government agencies.
We currently spend about $750 billion every year on the military, not counting the "black" budget. The stinking, offensive waste will soon exceed a trillion every year. That ain't all going to the VA hospitals. Besides, at this point every American who could have remembered a more normal way to live, is dead. The reptiles won. We literally can't stop spending vast sums killing brown people and preparing to kill more.
World nuclear arms spending hit $73bn last year – half of it by US.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/13/nuclear-weapon...
"The U.S. government is now estimated to have 6,800 nuclear weapons at its disposal, but America hasn’t actually built a new warhead or bomb since the 1990s. “It has refurbished several types in recent years to extend their lifetime,”...The B61-12 atomic bombs, for instance, are to undergo a life-extension program that will cost roughly $9.5 billion. There are 400 to 500 of these bombs... which means refurbishing one will cost about $20 million.
W-80 warheads, another type being refurbished, are estimated to cost $75 million each ... the total cost of the W-80 life extension plan will be $7.3 billion to $9.9 billion over 17 years."
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/08/heres-how-much-a-nuclear-wea...
Sounds like serious money to me. More details about which companies are making the most money and how:
http://www.nuclearweaponsmoney.org/corporations/
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/01/02/20-companies...