Government leaders today want guns and butter. Financial markets are starting to signal that they can’t afford both. For the last eleven consecutive years, global military spending has been increasing, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). In 2025, global spending surpassed 2.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), its highest level since 2009. At the same time, many leaders have shown no interest in materially cutting spending on voter-friendly domestic programs to make fiscal room for more weapons. At a time when global government debt is nearing 100 percent of GDP, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), politicians want both guns and butter. […]