[sidewndr46]

Under this logic, the US should also be evacuating cities like Los Angeles & New York on a regular basis and nuking them till there is nothing left.

After all, it would spur the development of decontamination as well as speedy construction wouldn't it?

[magicsmoke]

Currently the US has spurred the development of military technology by fighting a 20 year war. It's just that the destruction has happened on a non-electorate population. LA and NYC vote.

Planned obsolescence is also a form of this. Why build a phone that lasts 10 years when you build one that lasts 4, convince people to throw away perfectly working phones, and funnel the additional annual sales volume into technological research?

[gumby]

A 20 year war? The US has been fighting pretty much nonstop for the last 80 years.