“Guns and butter” is an economic model that describes the trade-off between a country’s investment in defense and civilian goods:
Guns: Military spending, such as national security programs
Butter: Spending on civilian goods, such as education, healthcare, and infrastructure
The model illustrates the idea that a country’s limited resources mean it can’t spend as much on both defense and civilian goods. For example, if a country increases its defense spending, it may have to reduce spending on civilian goods.
The phrase “guns and butter” is often used to describe the challenges of war and defense spending negotiations. It may have originated during World War I when Secretary of State William Bryan resigned in protest.
The phrase was also used in Irving Bernstein’s history of the Lyndon Johnson presidency, Guns and Butter 2.0, to describe Johnson’s failure to manage the trade-off between defense and civilian spending
Good grief! We broke through that wall many years ago... NOW we pay for everything one could ever want - by taking on crushing debt!!!
Thank the carpetbaggers in Congress in D.C. . . . They have theirs already. ⮯