OT The U.S. has wasted over $14 trillion on warfare over the past three decades

[Denny Crane]

 

[riverman]

 

[Denny Crane]

2% of a very big economy is a very big amount of spending. JFK proposed 6% of the economy as defense spending, at the height of the cold war, when we didn't have Vietnam yet and were done in Korea. No military operations (except the CIA overthrowing banana dictators).


I'd be fine with massive cuts to spending on military, but that's a separate issue.

I think you're focused on attributing spending we'd have made regardless of combat activities to our combat operations, to inflate and exaggerate the cost of those. Even then, it's nowhere near $14T.

The $ amount in your charts isn't very relevant. The % of the economy is.

The 2% figure I gave is off by a tad. It's 3.5%. Historically it's been 5.5%.

If our economy were smaller, we'd be a lot poorer and we'd not be spending so many absolute dollars.

 

[riverman]

The % of the economy is.

I think they are connected...tied at the hip......now if military payrolls were being spent more at home and less abroad, I think it'd be great for the economy. Peace is more profitable in the long run than war..

 

[stampedehero]

We can't be World Cop without the gear. It sickens me the way this country's management has turned elitist illuminati.