Hey Big Spender

Defence budgets, recession proof or recession resistant?

When talking defence expenditure it quickly becomes apparent, that be it spender or recipient, the values involved bring into play considerable vested interest in both the political and industrial spheres. The smoke screen generated by such vested interest does nothing but impede anybody tasked with assessing what may be spent, has been spent, or by whom. And even after sifting through the maze of massaged statistics that purport to give an indication of defence spend, global domestic product (GDP) and all manner of other related figures, what real chance

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G4 DEFENCE

is there of making sense of it all if some of our bigger- spending political leaders themselves appear incapable of keeping an accurate track of defence spend? When questioning if defence budgets are recession proof,

or resistant, or possibly neither…, a sensible point to start would be one that cannot be massaged away. And so, no matter how rose-tinted your glasses may be, it must remain clear the world is in economic recession, the overall effects of which will be felt for years. Additionally, and even from highly variable figures, it is as clear that overall Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48