The only thing a college teacher of classics can reliably teach you is to become a college teacher of classics. - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

You have a real life if and only if you do not compete with anyone in any of your pursuits.

Further, in countries where wealth comes from rent-seeking, political patronage, or regulatory capture (which, I remind the reader, is how the powerful and the insiders use regulation to scam the public, or red tape to slow down competition), wealth is seen as zero-sum.*2

Some clarity: DEFENSE is when you defend your country at, or near, your borders. Not when you fight people several time zones away. Find another name for this "DEFENSE" spending.