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Asked by greshmaxx to Al, Emma, Ivanka, James, Omar on 14 Mar 2012.
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James Vokes answered on 13 Mar 2012:
Really nice question, it’s a tough one. I think they’ll always be people who have a different opinion on how to better spend money. The money that gets put towards the project I’m working on is an investment. We’ll produce something that we’ll sell for more money than we invested. That money pays for 1000s of jobs which in turn will pay for 1000s of other jobs. It also allows my company to support different charities.
(I may come back to expand this answer)
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Emma Bould answered on 13 Mar 2012:
James is right, it is a tough question!
The money we spend is to keep the country safe, but it is really hard to quantify!
It’s been a long time since we have been at war and people have been directly in danger from anyone wishing to do us harm. You could say that is because we have the Armed Forces as a deterrent to keep us safe? There are lots of arguments both for and against.
Perhaps more compelling is just how much Britain’s economy relies on the sea to keep the economy running, keep our cars running (the majority of fuel in the UK arrives by sea) and allow you to buy food and other goods (like Cars, TVs and clothing) which aren’t made or grown in Britain. 95% of global maritime trade passes through just nine chokepoints around the world which are inevitably vulnerable to attack. That’s where we come in – one of our main jobs is to maintain security at sea and preserve a free, safe and lawful use of the high seas.
As for the money, the total cost of piracy in 2011 is estimated at about 7 billion dollars – the majority of that was spent by shipping companies taking measures to try and keep their vessels safe like increasing the speed of ships, changing the shipping routes, paying extra insurance and hiring security teams to keep their ships safe.
There is also the human cost to consider – when ships get captured, they take the crews hostage… you can’t put a price on that.
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Omar Mustufvi answered on 13 Mar 2012:
Very good question, and there isn’t always an easy answer. James touched on an important point though- industry doesn’t tackle all forms of poverty but it is very efficient from an economic point of view in that it creates lots of jobs- just today Jaguar Land Rover announced 1000 new jobs at our plant in Liverpool.
Technology developments are also quite important- although many technologies are researched in universities they only become viable in applications once companies have developed them further (which costs lots of money). Climate change is a good example of this, many car companies are investing heavily at the moment in developing cleaner fuels and low/zero emissions vehicles which hopefully will help us stop damaging the environment.
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Al Bartlett answered on 14 Mar 2012:
Hello greshmaxx,
I think all of the engineers agree that this is a difficult question to answer. The money spent on engineering projects can bring so many benefits to others that may not be as fortunate as us.
I’ll try and answer from my point of view: The aircraft I work on costs £200million each and we have six – Thats £1.2billion in total. The aircraft was used a few weeks ago to transport food, blankets, shelters and aid to refugees in Macedonia that were made homeless by heavy snow and high winds. The people were unreachable by road so if we did not have the aircraft there is no way we could have dropped the supplies to them that kept them warm and sheltered and stopped any fatalities (deaths) – so if we saved 1000 people this time and we do this every month for ten years, that means that each peson’s life has cost just over £1500 – thats less than a second hand car!! Its a small price to pay i think but i’ll let you decide.
It was a very well thought-out question and thanks for asking!!
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