Professor of Economics Stephen W. Rousseas lectured on “The Economic Impact of the Arms Race” in Rockefeller Hall as part of the American Culture lecture series “Issues for the Eighties.” Rousseas asserted that the increasing amount of money needed for the arms race against the USSR had resulted in the dismantling of parts of the social safety net. Reagonomics, said Rousseas, would consolidate the wealth in the hands of the rich, "repoliticizing" the distribution of income.

"Rousseas half-jokingly," wrote Philip Boroff '85 in The Miscellany News, "asserted: 'A war would get us out of this mess.' But those in power seem to realize that 'wars are getting too dangerous.' So the logical conclusion is just to have an arms race.  In real terms, the government is spending 200 billion dollars per year, or 1.6 trillion dollars in the next six years for arms."