Women fixing the gun problem. I have two words, Margaret Thatcher HAHA!

Yes, spending money on guns is a huge economic waste but no super power in history has existed without them. Why that's the case may not be what you think. Costa Rica has a huge trade imbalance between the U.S. and Germany (to name two). That means Costa Rica buys more medicine, for example, than it can pay for with Costa Rica exports.

Costa Rica, and many countries, are forced to sell their goods cheaply to get U.S. goods, for example, because Costa Rica has no local source for MRI machines say. The U.S. has many sources for what Costa Rica produces.

In the past, when small countries must sell their goods at give-away prices they will start trouble with the large country. So the larger country builds an army and beats them into submission.

In short, Costa Rica was long ago beaten into submission by the U.S. Therefore, many of its economic deals with make Americans richer and Costa Ricans poorer, on balance.

It's one of the reasons you have so much violence in South America. Of course, some Americans play dumb and most are dumb about what goes on in trade.

So, you can't really live in paradise unless you live without the tech-heavy products the super powers produce. Venezuela is doing that, but millions don't want to do that and have left.

Thanks for the comment!