No I was genuinely wondering what is the basis for that statement (I have heard it before), or if it was just sentiment. I&#x27;ll add Stephen Pinker&#x27;s book to my reading list.<p>Yes it&#x27;s an old debate whether the US should have gotten involved in all these conflicts, but back to your original point:<p>That the US national debt has increased dramatically in peace time.<p>My point is that it is not peace time, and that a substantial part of that debt stems from the US&#x27;s military industrial complex. It is after all not nothing that (famous tv saying) &quot;the US spends more on defense than the next 26 countries combined&quot; or something like that.