I also rejected good candidates because I was convinced they would not like the job and leave in a year.

this is an important aspect that i think is overlooked, you dont want to oversell yourself when applying. If I were looking for a salesjob while hunting longterm jobs I would absolutely not tell them about my maths degree it would raisa such a huge red flag.

Ah the twice yearly post

Military contractors mostly. “More aid to Ukraine” is usually code for “we’re giving money to the US MIC”. Also the money isn’t “saved” in that it now exists somewhere and therefore has to have gone someplace to exist there, the government simply doesn’t borrow as much for those services anymore. Probably borrows a lot more for other stuff though so in the end it doesn’t even balance out.