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U.S. Military Bases and Real Estate

 Posted by  Government Spending  177 Responses »
Oct 082010
 
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Truthfulpolitics.com reviewed the U.S. Department of Defense Base Structure Report of 2008:

  • The Department of Defense has 545,700 facilities located on more than 5,400 sites on 30 million acres
  • At least 1 base in all 50 states
  • 761 bases in 39 foreign countries, including 268 bases in Germany, 124 in Japan, and 87 in South Korea
  • Value of the bases equals $706,000,000,000, or $706 billion

To read the entire report, click on Department of Defense Base Structure Report Fiscal Year 2008 Baseline or click on U.S. Department of Defense Publications. For additional information on U.S. Military spending, click on U.S. Military Spending Compared to Other Countries.

The War on Terror Expenditures

 Posted by  Government Spending  133 Responses »
Oct 082010
 
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The Congressional Research Service in October of 2008 provided a report for congress on the expenditures on the War on Terror:

  • “Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) covering Afghanistan and other Global War on Terror (GWOT) operations ranging from the Philippines to Djibouti that began immediately after the 9/11 attacks and continues”
  • Enhanced Security is for “Operation Noble Eagle (ONE) providing enhanced security for U.S. military bases and other homeland security that was launched in response to the attacks and continues at a modest level”
  • Iraq is for “Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) that began in the fall of 2002 with the buildup of troops for the March 2003 invasion of Iraq and continues with counter-insurgency and stability operations”
  • FY01 is 2001, FY02 is 2002, etc.

Click on the chart below to see an enlarged, clearer chart.


The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror Operations

To read the entire report, click on The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror Operations Since 9/11.

U.S. Military Spending Compared to Other Countries

 Posted by  Government Spending  284 Responses »
Oct 082010
 
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U.S. Military Spending Compared to Other Countries

The numbers in parentheses next to country names indicates the amount of those respective countries’ military spending in billions of U.S. dollars. For example, The Netherlands (16) means The Netherlands spends $16 billions dollars in military spending.

The chart on the left is from the War Resisters League website. Additional information can be accessed on U.S. Military Spending vs. The World.

The SIPRI Yearbook 2007: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security stated the following:

“World military expenditure continued to increase during 2006. This upward trend is attributable primarily to the USA, which accounted for 62 per cent of the total increase in world military expenditure and 46 per cent of total world
military spending in 2006.” It continued, “In Europe total military expenditure has been relatively stable in recent years. In both East Asia and the Middle East, increasing financial resources has been decisive in driving military expenditure upwards. China is the prime example of a country where a booming economy, amongst other factors, has allowed a steep rise in military expenditure. In both South America and Eastern Europe, military expenditure has been increasing partly because of modernization and re-equipment of the armed forces.”

To read the entire yearbook, click on Armaments, Disarmament and International Security.

The U.S. Constitution on the Military

 Posted by  Government Spending  545 Responses »
Oct 082010
 
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In article 1, section 8 of the Constitution, it reads that the Congress shall have power:

  • To declare War
  • To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years

To read the entire Constitution, click on The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription.

According to the United States Department of Justice in September 2001, in the history of the U.S., on 125 occasions, the President initiated military action without prior express authorization from Congress. To read the entire memorandum opinion, click on THE PRESIDENT’S CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY TO CONDUCT MILITARY OPERATIONS AGAINST TERRORISTS AND NATIONS SUPPORTING THEM.

U.S. Federal Government Spending as a Percentage to the U.S. Economy Compared to Other Countries

 Posted by  Government Spending  292 Responses »
Oct 082010
 
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WorkforAll had the following illustration with U.S. federal government spending compared to other countries.

  • GDP stands for Gross Domestic Product and is a measure of the economy as it measures the total market value of all final goods and services produced in a country in a given year.
  • E.U. stands for European Union which is an economic and political partnership between 27 European countries.
  • OECD stands for Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the OECD percentage is the average of the 34 member OECD countries.
  • Commas are used for the decimal mark, which is a common convention in Europe and South America.  For example, the 35,6 means 35.6%.

illustration of U.S. Federal Government Spending as a Percentage to the U.S. Economy Compared to Other Countries

To read the entire article, click on EU : Causes of Growth differentials in Europe.

U.S. Federal Government Spending as a Percentage to the U.S. Economy

 Posted by  Government Spending  1 Response »
Oct 082010
 
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The Perot Charts website had a graph of the growth of the U.S. economy:

Click on the chart below to see an enlarged, clearer chart.

U.S. Gross Domestic Product from 1945 to 2007

Therefore, when U.S. government spending is based as a percentage to the U.S. economy, the following trend develops:

Click on the chart below to see an enlarged, clearer chart.

U.S. Government Spending as a Percentage of Gross Domestic Product from 1980 to 2007

A projection of what the spending will look like in the future:

Click on the chart below to see an enlarged, clearer chart.

U.S. Government Spending Projection

To view additional information and charts, click on U.S. Government Spending as a Percentage of Gross Domestic Product 1980 – 2007.

Patrick Henry had the following graph:

Click on the chart below to see an enlarged, clearer chart.

U.S. Federal Government Outlays as a Percentage to the U.S. Economy, including total spending, defense spending, and social welfare spending

To read the entire article, click on government spending is NOT out of control.

Should the U.S. State and Local Governments Downsize to Increase Economic Output? (and Additional Information on the Armey Curve)

 Posted by  Economic Performance, Government Spending  184 Responses »
Oct 082010
 
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  • “The size of state and local government that maximizes the growth rate in GDP is 11.42 percent.”
  • “In 1993, state and local spending was 15.68 percent of GDP”

State and Local Government Spending as a Percentage of U.S. GDP

To read additional information on the federal government and whether it should downsize, click on Should the U.S. Federal Government Downsize to Increase Economic Output? (and Additional Information on the Armey Curve). To read the entire Joint Economic Committee Study, click on Government Size and Economic Growth.

Should the U.S. Federal Government Downsize to Increase Economic Output? (and Additional Information on the Armey Curve)

 Posted by  Economic Performance, Government Spending  682 Responses »
Oct 082010
 
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The Joint Economic Committee Study done by the United States Congress in 1998 illustrated the impact of federal government size on the economy.

  • The following chart shows 10-year growth rates in the economy since 1799.
  • The average growth rate of the economy for any 10-year period since 1799 is 49.12%.
  • Therefore, the growth rate of the economy has been decreasing for the past 200 years.

Growth in the U.S. Economy Since 1799

  • “The output slowdown is not unique to the United States. Growth rates in Europe, for example, are lower in the past generation than in the preceding one. Both Europe and the United States have had a marked growth in the size of government relative to total output in recent years.”
  • “By contrast, growth rates in many nations of Asia today are higher than a generation ago. In many of these places, such as Hong Kong or Korea, the private sector’s growth has been faster than that of government. That is particularly true in the region’s giants, China and India. As government’s role in resource allocation has declined relative to that of the market-based private economy, it seems that growth rates have accelerated.”
  • For each 1 percent increase in the government share of the economy (GDP), the GDP itself falls by about $30 billion (in 1992 dollars)
  • “The data here suggest that a further reduction in government size to 17.45 percent of GDP would be growth enhancing.”

Federal Spending as a Percentage of GDP

  • Transfer payment programs (incorporating income security, health, medicare, and social security) reached their optimal size from an output maximization perspective at about 7.33 percent of GDP, about the level reached in 1974
  • “There is no statistically significant relationship between spending on health and [economic] output.”
  • The findings seem to contradict the idea that “‘imperial reach’ may be contributing to U.S. economic decline.”
  • The only category of federal spending, which shows some positive relationship with [economic] output, is the category that includes such things as educational, highway, environmental, agricultural, and foreign aid spending.

Conclusions for the size of federal government to increase economic output:

  • “reduce federal expenditure growth in general below that of total output growth, thereby reducing the claim that federal spending makes on total output;
  • place particular emphasis on containing transfer payments, stopping their growth relative to income and output. These results support the arguments of persons advocating limiting the growth of entitlements.
  • the maintenance of balanced budgets would appear to be useful, inasmuch as that would reduce net interest payments of the federal government as a percent of GDP over time.”

To read additional information on state and local governments and whether they should downsize, click on Should the U.S. State and Local Governments Downsize to Increase Economic Output? (and Additional Information on the Armey Curve). To read the entire Joint Economic Committee Study, click on Government Size and Economic Growth.

The Armey Curve

 Posted by  Economic Performance, Government Spending  366 Responses »
Oct 082010
 
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The Armey Curve was developed by United States Representative Richard Armey. The term describes the concept that in anarchy [when there exists no government], the economic output of a country is low, and in a country where all decisions are made by government, economic output of the country is low. Therefore, a mix of private and government decisions maximizes economic growth.

Government Spending and the Economy (The Armey Curve)

To read additional information, click on the Joint Economic Committee Study done by the United States Congress in 1998 called Government Size and Economic Growth. Additional information on the Armey Curve may be read in truthful politics by clicking on Should the U.S. Federal Government Downsize to Increase Economic Output? (and Additional Information on the Armey Curve).

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