The decaying hull of a Titan I missile complex. The development costs – just to get these bases up and running – ran over 11 trillion inflation-adjusted dollars, more than ten times what the Iraq war is expected to cost. Despite their high costs, not a single Titan I missile was launched in the defense of this country.

Military sites abound in California. It’s fortunate for me because I literally have a lifetime of beautiful rusting landscapes within a few dozen miles. But it’s truly unfortunate for the country, and especially the parts of the country that bear the burden of a bloated military budget.

Earlier, I may not have quite articulated myself properly when I mentioned, as an aside, that U.S. military spending is — for lack of a better term — obscene. Of course, I’m not saying this just to opine. It’s a fact. Japan, the second largest military spender, tosses in a pittance 1/9th of our budget.

In the process of looking for evidence, I found the perfect illustrations for such an assertion. Behold! Cartograms of world military spending, broken down both by arms sales and total dollar amounts. It all makes one feel warm and fuzzy inside, believe me.

Cartogram of World Exports of Weapons by Country (courtesy: worldmapper.org)

Total War Spending in Real Dollars (courtesy: worldmapper.org)

Isn’t GDP the Proper Way to Look at Military Spending?

Granted, there is a large contingent that believes GDP is the proper way to look at military budgets. I concede, it may perhaps be so, but only if you were looking at how military spending may bleed the overall economy. Citing military spending as a percent of GDP tells you nothing of how it affects the average taxpayer. In order to understand how much we lowly taxpayers unwittingly cough up towards military spending, you need to look at it as a percent of of the federal budget.

So how does the U.S. compare on that measure? In 2008, around 51% of our income taxes go toward war. So last year, I personally contributed nearly $2,000 to fund the production of nuclear bombs and the continued deaths of over 250,000 Iraqi civilians and counting…

Military Spending as a Percentage of Income Tax, 2004 (source fcnl.org)

To be honest, I don’t feel too good about that, but if I don’t put my money towards killing people, I go to jail or lose my home. And no matter who the next president may be, I don’t think they’re going to allow a $2,000 above-the-line deduction for conscientious objectors.

All too often, I get caught up in the minutiae of photographing historic structures. I’m completely discounting a large portion of the built environment — the recently abandoned, the recently built, and the still-active. I simply choose not to focus on these locations partly because seeing old buildings in the context of a post-industrial milieu tells us a story that’s different from driving by a Wal-Mart, or liquor store, or even a store-front church.

These places still tell a bit of a story of discardment, though. They may still be a reflection of the throwaway culture in which we live. It’s also a reflection of the loss that our culture has all-too-recently experienced – a culture in which the products of our consumption are no longer actually produced on our own land. There is still a narrative of environmental waste, the harsh realities of production, the dependence on labor, and the extreme power that the worker once held sway over corporate fat-cats — all of these things are no longer a part of the American equation.

We live in a country that can no longer appreciate, nor can we learn to conserve, the resources we use — simply because, whether it’s oil, or avocados, steel, or tchotchke bouncy balls from the .25/c machine in the laundromat — all of these things are no longer connected to us.

Then I realize that we still have production facilities, factories, and skyscrapers that we should be? proud of. We still build things, we still create — and, of course, we have locations that are a reflection of our power, but power with the wrong priorities.

Today’s photo also shows that, at least until very recently we still tested rockets – things that ostensibly brought men to the moon, but were ultimately turned into the vehicles for intercontinental ballistic warheads, ever faster, ever more potent, ever more efficient at killing people. We forget how many of these testing facilities still exist, and how few have gone into abandonment. If there’s any industry that weathers all economies, it is the war economy.? This is an unfortunate fact.

I’m now going to step off my soap box. But we should all take note of the fact that the U.S. spends – if not more than – about one trillion dollars a year on defense and defense-related spending. We spend more than all other countries combined. What we could accomplish with that money? Where could we go, as citizens of the world? Some may label it as “unpatriotic,” but I see it as the ultimate form of patriotism, the kind of patriotism that prevents us from going the way of Rome.

Where’s Waldo in Vancouver?
Courtesy Carolyn Coles [creative commons]

Being a child of the eighties, I have particularly fond memories of a goofy, lanky guy in a striped, red shirt; glasses; and a funky beanie. Those of you who also grew up in the eighties no doubt felt much like I did when – as you strolled with confidence into your school library, you found that your nemesis had already checked out the only version of Where’s Waldo? The humanity! The audacity of that little twerp who took your favorite find-it book — who prevented you from avoiding intellectually stimulating activities in place of mindlessly looking among a culturally homogeneous scene to find that one stand-out, the sore thumb, the man we all knew and loved — Waldo.

Here’s Waldo!
Courtesy atp_tyreseus [creative commons]

Waldo is back. And better than ever. He’s taking Web 2.0 by storm, all while helping raise awareness of Geography. And the ultimate example of this is Waldo’s new appearance in an undisclosed location in Vancouver, British Columbia. In order to find this iconic Poindexter you should – nay, you must – navigate post-haste to Vancouver, Canada in Google Earth and browse around until you find dreamy glasses and a googlie-eyed (no pun intended) smile shining back at you from the roof of a building. NOTE: Waldo is not yet appearing on the regular online version of Google Maps, it should take a few months to propagate there, so you will need Google Earth.

In fact, I’ll up the ante: The first person to send me the coordinates of Waldo (no cheating) wins a free signed print of Neverland Ranch. It’s a little reward for being a Bearings reader. Let the race begin!