By Nukewatch Staff
The head of Italy’s Central Bank, Fabio Panetta, declared in January that weapons production does not lead to long-term economic growth. In a speech in Bologna, Panetta confronted European Union consideration of increased military spending, saying, “War cannot bring prosperity,” Reuters reported.
Perhaps not the sage he sounds like, Panetta put forth the very reasonable rationale that any money made in the short-term from weapons manufacturing paled in comparison to the much longer-lived costs of war. Costs likely not tallied in lives lost and trauma inflicted, but rather in the dollar-wise damage to infrastructure, machinery, raw materials, and the supply chain — which is no doubt the predominant language understood on the European Central Bank’s governing council, of which Panetta is a member.
“The manufacturing of war equipment does not help increase a country’s growth potential. Development comes from productive investment, not from arms,” Panetta said. “Moreover, it is misleading to attribute technological progress to military expenditure,” he added. Though he fell short of declaring war as anathema to both human survival and the development of a healthy and sustainable civilization, Panetta at least named war “a form of development in reverse,” one that the U.S., NATO allies, and their whole “developed” circus have certainly crowned as the most holy deserved squandering of modernity’s precious resources. — Yahoo.com, Feb. 28; Reuters, Jan. 16, 2025
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