Did you know that all nine nuclear-armed countries are modernizing their nuclear forces? The United States, Russia, United Kingdom, France, China, Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea together spend over $100 billion annually on their nuclear forces.
While the majority of nuclear weapons funding comes from taxpayers in nuclear-armed countries, private sector investors also provide financing that enables the production, maintenance and modernization of nuclear arsenals.
A new report by PAX entitled “Don’t Bank on the Bomb” examines in great detail the companies that produce nuclear weapons and the financial institutions that back them.
State Farm, an insurance and financial services company in the United States, is one of the many companies that finance nuclear weapon producers. State Farm presents itself as a “good neighbor” – their advertisements tell you, “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.”
Please take a moment today to write to State Farm CEO Michael Tipsord to let him know that financing nuclear weapons is unacceptable.