I was just reading in the news that the U.S. Congress approved a defense budget of 416,000 million dollars. Let me see - I think that would be more than $1000 for every inhabitant in the U.S., right?

I don't think that this problem is exclusive to the U.S.; other nations face similar problems. I wonder what the current figures are for the entire World.

It really is a serious problem. If so much money is wasted for war (or preparation therof), that much less money is available for useful things - education, scientific research, feeding hungry people, etc.

Let's assume that countries in the World made a global non-agression pact - more or less on the basis that if one country attacks another one, all other should consider it an attack against all, and act accordingly (against the aggressor). Then, current spending on armaments, etc. could be reduced, say, to 1/10 of the current levels - mainly for internal security in each country.