In conversations about capital punishment, it is often pointed out that it costs more to put someone to death than it does to simply imprison him or her for life. The California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice found that it cost an additional $90,000 per year per inmate to house someone on death row.

Yet we do it anyway.

The argument for peace versus war has similarly skewed financial quirks.

According to the non-profit RAND Corporation the four branches of the military spent $600 million in advertising alone.

The four military Services spent over $600 million on recruiting advertising in 2007. This represents a 150 percent increase since the 1999 fiscal year (FY). In addition, the mix of advertising programs has changed significantly. In particular, the Army share of traditional advertising (primarily print, radio, and television advertising) has gone down relative to the other Services, especially the Air Force and Marine Corps. In addition, all the Services are spending relatively more on new advertising vehicles, namely, the Internet and cable television.

As a comparison, the budget for The Peace Corps, a government organization which provides foreign aid to developing nations, is $330.8 million for the 2009 fiscal year.

The four branches of the military spend more on advertising alone than the Peace Corps spends for its entire operating budget.

So while the organization founded by President John F. Kennedy to promote world peace and friendship spends $330.8 million to do all their work all over the globe, the military spends millions to advertise. Like their $13 million video arcade to recruit teenagers.

Military spending in total was $685 billion for 2008. Compare $685 billion to $330.8 million and it becomes pretty obvious where our priorities are when it comes to foreign countries.

How about domestically?

In 1993, President Bill Clinton signed the National and Community Service Trust Act, which established the Corporation for National and Community Service and brought the full range of domestic community service programs under the umbrella of one central organization.

This legislation built on the first National Service Act signed by President H.W. Bush in 1990. It also formally launched AmeriCorps, a network of national service programs that engage Americans in intensive service to meet the nation’s critical needs in education, public safety, health, and the environment.

The newly created AmeriCorps incorporated two existing national service programs: the longstanding VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) program, created by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964 and the National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC).

How much do they spend?

On May 7, 2009, President Barack Obama released his detailed fiscal year 2010 budget request. The budget requests $1.149 billion for the Corporation for National and Community Service and its programs, a 29 percent increase over the FY 2009 enacted level.

While it is great that we are willing to spend $1.149 billion for domestic programs to fight illiteracy, improve health services, and build affordable housing, (and kind of sad that we are only willing to spend $330.8 million for the whole rest of the world) it is still a drop in the bucket compared to $685 billion.

With President Obama approving troop increases, this isn't going to change anytime soon.

It quite literally costs less money to help others than it does to kill them. It costs less in prison, it costs less all over developing countries, and it costs less domestically.

There is nothing right about war. Helping others, however, is the right thing to do.

And cheaper.