The Cold War Is Over, So Why Are We Spending $31 Billion A Year Fighting It?

Annually, the U.S. government spends approximately $31 billion on maintaining strategic nuclear offensive forces — you know, the weapons that are capable of wiping out humanity. These numbers don’t take into account the amount spent on additional nuclear weapons-related programs, the cost of keeping these dangerous weapons out of the hands of terrorists, cleaning up weapon development sites and other non-strategic nuclear weapons. When you consider that the costs rise every year, we have to ask ourselves — why not cut back a program that exists solely for the destruction of human life?