"Bombs or bread". The battle: investing in fighter jets vs. poverty.

How Much Is One Killer Airplane Worth?
The $475 million price of one F-35 could buy a lot of social good. What would you have government spend it on?
"Bombs or bread". The battle: investing in fighter jets vs. poverty.
http://thetyee.ca/News/2012/08/13/F35-Worth/index.html
[excerpt]
"...Support for Aboriginal people
The 2012 federal budget promised new support for Aboriginal Canadians, including a $275 million investment in Aboriginal education. But Aboriginal leaders have dismissed the number as insufficient to meet the underfunded needs of Canada's Aboriginal youth.
An additional $475 million would almost triple resources for Aboriginal education. But the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) points out that the price of one jet could also cover the one-time cost of 38 of the 40 new schools needed on Aboriginal reserves (at an average of $12.5 million each). Or it could pay the $126 million annual cost of funding First Nations language education for three and a half years -- bringing First Nations language instruction up to the same level as public school language programs.
Or how about funding primary healthcare (visits to family doctors, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, etc.) for residents of remote Aboriginal communities? One foregone fighter plane would cover the entire cost of primary healthcare for men, women and children in 70 of the nation's most remote and isolated Aboriginal communities for a year, with almost $180 million left over...."