Our national budget for 2008 is $2.387 trillion, of which slightly more than half goes to current and past military expenses, at least according to the War Resisters League, an anti-war organization that first formed in 1923. The official government pie chart shows a military and domestic security figure of 19%.
During World War II, the military budget as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product was around 38%. It dropped to 5% by 1950, but jumped to 14% in 1953 because of the Korean War. At the peak of the Vietnam War it was just over 9% in 1968. Today, with the war in Iraq, this figure is 4.1%. A final way of looking at this is, in 2002 dollars:
Year Outlay for National Defense
During World War II, the military budget as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product was around 38%. It dropped to 5% by 1950, but jumped to 14% in 1953 because of the Korean War. At the peak of the Vietnam War it was just over 9% in 1968. Today, with the war in Iraq, this figure is 4.1%. A final way of looking at this is, in 2002 dollars:
Year Outlay for National Defense
.......(in Billion dollars)
o 1945 $830 (World War II)
o 1953 $357 (Korean War)
o 1968 $424 (Vietnam War)
o 1986 $449 (Reagan defense spending increase)
o 2008 $550 (Iraq War)
It is reported that President Bush only sought $200 billion for the Iraq War in 2008. You can't believe everything the government tells you. I will insert here this weekend my Huffington Post article on this subject, where a sum of $3 trillion can be confirmed as the true cost of the war.
o 1945 $830 (World War II)
o 1953 $357 (Korean War)
o 1968 $424 (Vietnam War)
o 1986 $449 (Reagan defense spending increase)
o 2008 $550 (Iraq War)
It is reported that President Bush only sought $200 billion for the Iraq War in 2008. You can't believe everything the government tells you. I will insert here this weekend my Huffington Post article on this subject, where a sum of $3 trillion can be confirmed as the true cost of the war.
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Well, President Bush bailed out GM and Chrysler, and the Dow Jones Industrials, which were nearly 200 points up, gradually slid to minus 32, ending at 8573. Low interest loans to GM ($9.4 billion) and Chrysler ($4 billion) were provided from the first installment of the TARP $700 billion, with $4 billion more to come from the second half of those funds. This one was pretty specific: loans must be repaid in three years, or within 30 days if a company is not viable by March 31. Bush wanted to prevent a "disorderly bankruptcy," which could mean that this bridge is for an orderly bankruptcy when the Cherry Blossoms next bloom. The signs are grim, as U.S. auto sales plunged to a 26-year low last month, and there are widescale assembly line shutdowns this month.
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Oil further sunk $2.35 to $33.87/barrel, a five year low. Woe the renewable energy entrepreneur. Let me predict, though... .Merry Christmas....that on Monday, oil prices will initiate a recovery (meaning higher prices). Why? I heard that volume sales for February are much higher, and a return to $50/bbl can be expected by early next month. Should you take my word for this and invest heavily now? NO...no...no! Oil economists are usually wrong, and I'm not even one of them. On the other hand, not being one....
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Gold dropped $10/toz to $838. If the recession is sinking in, why is gold continuing to drop?
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Some definitions for those who are asking:
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toz = troy ounce, where 1.0 toz = 1.10 ounces (the regular kind)
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TARP = Troubled Assets Relief Program, that $700 billion Wall Street bailout package passed by Congress as the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 and signed by the President on October 3.
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Hedge Fund = a private investment fund with limited clientele allowed by regulators to undertake more liberal activities, paying a performance fee to the investment manager. You will more and more read about Bernard Madoff, a hedge fund manager, who is alleged to have perpetrated a $50 billion fraud.
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