€800 Billion of Central Planning Europe’s defence problem illustrates a lesson politicians repeatedly refuse to learn: You cannot spend your way out of a supply problem. Ursula von der Leyen’s Commission has announced an €800 billion rearmament programme with the confidence of a central planner who has discovered that shortages can be eliminated by increasing the budget. The European Court of Auditors appears considerably less impressed. Its warning is devastating: insufficient coordination, fragmented funding, bottlenecks in materials and critical components, shortages of skilled personnel and serious difficulties in achieving readiness by 2030. Notice what is missing from the solution: more bureaucracy. The fundamental error is confusing financial resources with real resources. Governments can create euros with a stroke of a pen. They cannot create factories, engineers, semiconductors, explosives, machine tools, rare materials or production capacity by decree. Worse, the EU is attempting to coordinate what politicians cannot possibly know well enough to coordinate from Brussels: which technologies should be developed, which weapons should be produced, where capacity should be expanded, and how scarce resources should be allocated. That is precisely the information problem identified by Friedrich Hayek. Knowledge is dispersed throughout millions of individual decisions. Prices communicate that knowledge. Central planners replace those signals with political priorities, committees and funding programmes. The result is predictable: fragmentation, duplication, lobbying, distorted incentives and expensive procurement. Europe does need to rearm. But that does not prove that Europe needs an €800 billion bureaucratic spending programme. In fact, the opposite may be true. If defence is genuinely urgent, Europe should remove the obstacles preventing private capital, competition and production from responding to demand. Let companies compete. Let governments buy what actually works. Let prices reveal scarcity. Let inefficient producers fail. The question is not whether Europe can spend €800 billion. Of course it can. The question is whether Brussels can transform €800 billion of political spending into €800 billion of actual military capability. The Court of Auditors has just reminded us that money is not knowledge, bureaucracy is not coordination, and spending is not production. And history has never been kind to economies that confuse the three.
MERZ — THE BISMARCK OF TODAY? 🇩🇪🇪🇺 Germany is changing its strategic course. Under Friedrich Merz, Berlin is combining massive rearmament with a historic investment offensive: 🇩🇪 €163 BILLION Bundeswehr budget by 2029 🛡️ 3.5% of GDP for core defence spending by 2029 🏗️ €500 https://t.co/ehO9jZZdDv #Germany #Defense #Rearmament #DE #EU
4/15 For years, Europe has been told that: • weaker economic performance is success; • declining competitiveness is a moral achievement; • deindustrialization is progress; • welfare expansion and massive rearmament can both continue indefinitely. Reality eventually sends #Europe #Economy #RealityCheck #EU
If you look at major European parties, Italy’s Conte and his 5 Stars (part of the center-left opposition) are much more closely aligned to the Kremlin than even Germany’s AFD. “To impoverish us, they are manufacturing the Russian threat to justify the rearmament to our teeth, to #Italy #5Stars #RussianThreat #IT #DE
The era of the central banker superhero is no more — For decades, central bankers dominated economic policymaking. But as Europe confronts war, rearmament and trade conflict, power is shifting back toward governments https://t.co/stCGyhKJ14 #CentralBanking #EconomicPolicy #GovernmentPower #EU
Renault e Mercedes estão a diversificar as suas estratégias, investindo na produção de drones militares e sistemas para os abater, em resposta ao aumento do rearmamento europeu, com a Renault a fabricar o drone Chorus em Le Mans e a Mercedes a colaborar com a Tytan Technologies para desenvolver veículos de defesa anti-drone. #Renault #Mercedes #drones
as the #USStateSecretary, #Rubio, thanks #Meloni for her obedience (#Meloni will raise Italy's #militarySpending to absurd levels), we're ready for a conference (in #Pordenone) and a protest (at the US military base in #Aviano) against #USNuclearWeapons in Italy and #Rearmament https://t.co/Uinx0Jjd2T #USNuclearWeapons #militarySpending #Rearmament #US #IT
according to press reports, the #Meloni govt will cut 2/3 of its planned #MilitarySpending for #Rearmament. Is this true or is it just another tactic by #Meloni to spin the public debate as with #ArmsExports to #Israel and #USMilitaryBases? [Italian] https://t.co/ywpJBsnGy8 #Meloni #MilitarySpending #Rearmament #IT #IL #US
RT @Reuters: Pope Leo criticized rising European military spending, calling it a betrayal of diplomacy and condemned rearmament as harmful… #PopeLeo #MilitarySpending #Diplomacy #EU
Military spending is rising globally, with Brazil experiencing a 13% increase in military expenditures last year, driven by high demand for Brazilian defense products and significant investment in firms like Avibrás and Embraer, alongside concerns over international conflicts and rearmament trends. #MilitarySpending #GlobalDefense #ArmsTrade #BR #AE #DE #BG #PT #US #CN #IR #BF #BH #YE #KR
Military spending is rising globally, with Brazil experiencing a 13% increase in military expenditures last year, driven by high demand for Brazilian defense products and significant investment in firms like Avibrás and Embraer, alongside concerns over international conflicts and rearmament trends. #MilitarySpending #GlobalDefense #ArmsTrade #BR #AE #DE #BG #PT #US #CN #IR #BF #BH #YE #KR
O Papa Leão XIV criticou a corrida ao armamento sob a fachada da Defesa, afirmando que tal rearmamento apenas aumenta tensões e insegurança, e lamentou que isso desvie investimentos de áreas essenciais como educação e saúde, pedindo aos jovens que sejam arquitetos de uma verdadeira paz. #PapaLeãoXIV #Defesa #Guerra
Pope Leo condemned the significant increase in European military spending as a betrayal of diplomacy during a speech at Rome's Sapienza University, urging students to prioritize true peace over rearmament and warning against the dangers of artificial intelligence in warfare. #MilitarySpending #Diplomacy #PeaceBuilding #IT #US #RU #UA #GZ #LB #IR
Pope Leo condemned the surge in European military spending, which he attributed to pressure from U.S. President Trump, calling it a betrayal of diplomacy and urging students to reject labeling rearmament as defense while warning against the implications of artificial intelligence in warfare. #MilitarySpending #Peace #Diplomacy #IT #US #RU #UA #IL #LB #IR
Pope Leo criticized the significant rise in European military spending, which he views as a betrayal of diplomacy and a mislabeling of rearmament as 'defense,' during a speech at Rome's Sapienza University, urging students to advocate for true peace and reject ideologies that foster conflict. #MilitarySpending #Diplomacy #Peace #IT #US #RU #UA #IL #LB #IR
Pope Leo criticized the surge in European military spending as a betrayal of diplomacy, urging students in Rome to reject the notion of rearmament as 'defense' and calling for a collective commitment to genuine peace amidst rising tensions and conflicts exacerbated by technological advancements in warfare. #MilitarySpending #Peace #Diplomacy #IT #US #RU #UA #IL #LB #IR
RT @battleforeurope: Germany’s rearmament is not designed to make the country more militarily sovereign — for better or worse. It is design… #Germany #Rearmament #MilitarySovereignty #DE
The American data processing giant Palantir has sparked controversy with its recent manifesto advocating for mandatory military service in the U.S., the rearmament of Germany and Japan, and greater involvement of Silicon Valley engineers in national defense, which has led to debates about the moral implications of tech companies' roles in state security and their ethical responsibilities amidst rising concerns over AI's use in defense policies. #ArtificialIntelligence #NationalSecurity #TechEthics #US #DE #JP #GR #GB #BE #RU
