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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Amy J who wrote (220757)	2/24/2005 11:39:12 PM
From: TimF	Respond to of 1576588

We probably gained this impression because it has grown as a % during the past decade. Not by a huge amount even in the last 10. Its a blip against a much larger long term trend. From close to 40% of the GDP in 1944, to almost 15% in Korea, to 9.4% in Vietnam's peak year, to about 4% now if you want to measure war to war. 10 years ago (1995) spending was at 3.7%. It got as low as 3.0% in 1999 to 2001, hitting 3.7% again in 2003. Give things another 10 years and Iraq and Afghanistan should be done and the GDP will have grown more. The nominal dollar spending might be higher than today, but the % of GDP spent on defense will probably drop below 3% again. Give it another two or three decades and I wouldn't be suprised to drop below 1940's level of 1.5%. Of course back in 1940 1.5% only bought a very weak army and a navy that was weaker than Japan's, but in 2035 the same percent should be enough to have a large and competent force. This is why additional defense cuts aren't the answer to entitlement spending problems. Data from truthandpolitics.org which got its data from References [1] "Table 3.1: outlays by superfunction and function: 1940--2009," in Office of Management and Budget, Historical Tables, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2005 (2004), Washington, pp. 45--52 [2] "Public Budget Database, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2005" (2004) (database)

To: Amy J who wrote (220757)	2/24/2005 11:39:50 PM
From: Peter Dierks	Respond to of 1576588

Thanks for that. People tend to present the subset of facts that shine the best light on their position. I think that graph sheds a clear light on everyone's position.