I do love the way these threads wander about - from nuclear weapons upgrade, through communist and capitalist systems, different theories of economics, and back to our nuclear defence.
As I get older and (hopefully!) wiser, I come to realise many things. Firstly, as Royalscot pointed out, in this world it's wise to have some forms of defence, and the nuclear option is probably here to stay, until something even more formidable comes along, which will render it useless. Secondly, in free democracies we elect governments to do things - we don't elect them to do nothing! Consequently, governments are always looking for more things to do; and, in the absence of "big things" such as world wars, governments turn their attention to what we might define as "little things", so that the tentacles of government forever reach outwards, probing every crevice of our daily lives. This, of course, requires more money, which, sadly, governments do not have unlimited supplies of. They can't raise much more money than they already do from taxation; and the problem is compounded by the falling birth rate in the West (meaning that the supply of new people to the economy, as both a labour force and taxpayers, is slowing) and the fact that we're all living longer (placing more demands on the state and pension funds at the other end!).
For almost two centuries, UK Chancellors of the Exchequer have promised us growing economies, growing incomes, and even more "jam tomorrow". Thanks to the "demographic time bomb", a Chancellor is going to have to tell us, one day before long, that the economy has peaked, there is no more growth to be achieved, and that we've all got to spend less and save more.... or have more babies!
So, defence spending is here to stay - live with it!
eezypeazy