August 5, 2004
EMPIRE ON THE CHEAP:
Bush Signs Record Defense Bill (Fox News, August 05, 2004)
President Bush signed a $417.5 billion wartime defense bill Thursday providing an additional $25 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan, body armor for troops and reinforced Humvee vehicles.
The staggering thing here is that we're conducting this globe-wide civilizational war for under 4% of GDP. By comparison, in 1952 we were spending 15% of GDP on defense and even as late as 1990 were over 6%. We aren't even breathing heavy yet. Posted by Orrin Judd at August 5, 2004 1:04 PM
Comments
Still, expect the "imperial overstretch" nonsense from Paul Kennedy and (to a lesser extent) Edward Luttwak to start recirculating.
Posted by: kevin whited at August 5, 2004 1:32 PMTell that to the National Guardsmen who are being tapped for full-time duty.
Posted by: Robert Duquette at August 5, 2004 1:57 PMGood point. In those prior times we had drafts. Now we skate by on volunteers.
Posted by: oj at August 5, 2004 2:04 PMEven more important than the weapons ouir great wealth buys, without breating hard, is the will to use them. Consider our fascination with sports, guns, and, even, the dreaded video games, and recall on which fields the Battle of Waterloo was won. There is, as I perceive from encounters with the young, a spirit of '01 to parallel those of '76 and '41.
Posted by: Lou Gots at August 5, 2004 4:11 PM