Old textbooks in economics used to explain consumer choice with an example that pinned plow bills against cannons. The premise was that if we want to feed people—put plow bills in the soil—we will have to give up our national defense.
For a long time, that choice seemed to be little more than an academic exercise to set the brains of bright young economics students in motion. Recently, though, the old hypothetical tension between two necessities has emerged as a real one, and it is affecting policy and politics in individual NATO states. The latest example is Spain, as reported by our news writer Tamas Orban:
For weeks, it looked like the 5% target would not get approved due to opposition from Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez. On Sunday, however, Sánchez dropped his veto after being promised “flexible” spending options—meaning Spain would not have to spend as much as others, as long as it still meets NATO’s updated “capability targets.”
Deutsche Welle points specifically to the resistance to higher defense spending that Prime Minister Sánchez is meeting from his left-wing political allies. They spell out the ‘plow bills or cannons’ dilemma, refusing to accept any cuts in health and education to make room for a bigger military budget. Although the prime minister has already promised to safeguard social benefits, DW explains that critics on the Left claim that cuts are already being made to make room for a bigger military.
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