When one thinks about nuclear arms manufacturers today, it’s hard to avoid wondering:
- Are they all sterile?
- Do they have no children or grandchildren for whom they care? Or are they addicted to money, unable to care for the future of the world and its inhabitants?
On August 6, 1945, and August 9, 1945, the United States became and continues to be the only nation to drop atomic bombs on another country. In doing so, the U.S. government began an arms race that continues today, despite international efforts to stop nuclear proliferation.
The only believable explanation for the continuing production of nuclear weapons is greed, and certainly a few very rich people in the military industrial complex are getting richer and richer.
According to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), the U.S. has 7,700 nuclear warheads, most of which are more powerful than the ones dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. We spend more on nuclear weaponry than all other nuclear-armed nations combined.
Among the profiteers from the continuing production of nuclear weapons are:
- Boeing; 2011 total compensation for its CEO $27. 5 million
- General Dynamics: 2012 total compensation for its CEO $18 million
- Northrop Grumman: 2011 total compensation for its CEO $21 million
If you love crime shows and especially revel in the ones where the bad guys win, read about Northrop Grumman.
Can these guys sleep at night? Is their moral disengagement that effective?
You can outclass them; increase your moral engagement this August. Learn more about nuclear weapons and efforts to create a nuclear free world during Nuclear Free Future Month.
Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology