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Look at the chart. Yes, we need to bring the 52,000 troops back from Germany and the 37,000 from South Korea. But as we can see military spending as a percentage of the economy has been shrinking for a long time.
Meanwhile, as Cato's Chris Edwards writes,
Quote:
After a steady decline during the Clinton years to 12.9 percent of GDP, President Bush pushed up nondefense spending to a higher plateau of around 14.5 percent. Then came the recession and financial crisis, and the Bush-Obama tag team hiked spending to an even higher level of around 19 percent of GDP. That level of nondefense spending is almost double the level in 1970 measured as a share of the economy.
It's the spending that's the problem.
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It's absolutely a spending problem. No doubt about it. Say it with me now people, unsustainable.
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"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him." Leo Tolstoy, 1897
...But as we can see military spending as a percentage of the economy has been shrinking for a long time....
The chart doesn't show that. Defense spending as a % of GDP dropped dramatically after Vietnam, bumped back up under Reagan, declined under Clinton and rose again under Bush.
Defense spending as a % of GDP is where it was under Carter.
What really matters is actual spending, though, not the %. I don't think there's an argument that defense spending needs to increase with our economy -- instead, once we've reached a certain military level, which virtually anybody would agree we reached long ago, defense spending as a % of GDP should decline.
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Originally Posted by State
...,It's the spending that's the problem.
Spending -- both military and non-military -- without question is a problem. But that doesn't mean it's the only one.
This level of spending isn't sustainable and even gutting the Pentagon won't solve any of this. BTW why are we funding military operations against Libya?
Meanwhile the number of people applying for unemployment is >400k/week for the past 4 months, Today we discover that June new housing starts are down 1%. There are credible indicators the US economy is sinking back into recession. Perhaps thsi is the reason for the trumped up debt ceiling 'crisis' Obama has been told a recession is coming and is looking for a scapegoat for his failures.
He noted in his most recent issue of “Breakfast with Dave” that real disposable income, household employment, real business sales, and manufacturing production all peaked in March. This type of behavior was not characteristic of the soft patch last year and this is the first sign of a looming recession. More importantly, it is important to remember that the recovery to date in the economy has not been an organic one. With more than $5 Trillion injected into the system through various Federal interventions and stimulus it is disappointing that we only increased GDP by a little more than $900 Billion in the last two years.
We have discussed many times recently that with the unemployment rate remaining high, housing prices slipping into a secondary decline, consumer and business spending slowing, while gas and food prices remain high eating up more than 20% of consumers wages and salaries. Add on top of these factors the likelihood of a Greek debt default, a slowdown in the Eurozone, a weaker dollar and Washington locked in debate over the debt ceiling - well, the list of risks far outweigh the positives.
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"Some guys play in all-star games, some guys don't. I don't know who picks all those all-star teams. In all honesty, I don't know who picks the combine, for that matter," Belichick said. "How does (Miami-Ohio offensive lineman Brandon) Brooks not get invited to the combine? How did Vollmer not get invited to the combine? I don't know. We can't really worry about that. We just have to try to evaluate them the best we can."
At this point, it's more of an article of faith for you guys than anything grounded in reality.
There's a graph I link to that I haven't seen anyone link to before using sources that can't be maligned that says you're wrong.
But you won't face reality. You are willfully ignorant. So I'm hitting you over the head in the hopes you'll wake from your Keynesian daydream. I'm not giving up on you, and you are not responding with anything other than your opinion.
Defense spending as a % of GDP is where it was under Carter.
That's a good point. Most don't realize that Reagan's so-called military build-up began with Carter, who's not given the credit for realizing that the military had been unduly gutted.
Obama is making Carter look better and better. An almost impossible feat.
I, and many military analysts who aren't extreme leftists, believe military spending should be held constant, at no less than four percent of GDP.
And BTW I remember Herb Kohl running for a senate seat and saying he'd vote to have the European troops brought home. This was 1989, and the number of those troops then was over a 100,000.
Does anyone know if the retiring senator ever lifted a finger to comply with a campaign pledge?
Last edited by State; 07-26-2011 at 11:47 AM..
Reason: I think it's GDP, not GNP.
There's a graph I link to that I haven't seen anyone link to before using sources that can't be maligned that says you're wrong.
But you won't face reality. You are willfully ignorant. So I'm hitting you over the head in the hopes you'll wake from your Keynesian daydream. I'm not giving up on you, and you are not responding with anything other than your opinion.
That's the great thing about statistics. You can chart a graph that purports to show essentially anything you want.
Unfortunately your graph doesn't dispositively prove what you claim.
That's the great thing about statistics. You can chart a graph that purports to show essentially anything you want.
Unfortunately your graph doesn't dispositively prove what you claim.
They unemployment rate speaks volumes. Obama = FAIL
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"Some guys play in all-star games, some guys don't. I don't know who picks all those all-star teams. In all honesty, I don't know who picks the combine, for that matter," Belichick said. "How does (Miami-Ohio offensive lineman Brandon) Brooks not get invited to the combine? How did Vollmer not get invited to the combine? I don't know. We can't really worry about that. We just have to try to evaluate them the best we can."
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Five Decades of Gov't Spending
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