Source link: http://blog.mises.org/5608/why-libertarians-should-care-about-defense/
Why Libertarians Should Care about “Defense”
Previous post: Drinking Builds Social Capital
Next post: Gordon Guest Blogging at Organizations and Markets
The Ludwig von Mises Institute
Tu Ne Cede Malis
Advancing the Scholarship of Liberty in the Tradition of the Austrian School
{ 12 comments }
… and then you adjust for inflation (M3, not CPI) and it’s flat.
Um, can you post it in something meaningful, like ounces of gold? A graph of something in dollar figures that long doesn’t really tell me anything.
Just think: if we could inflate even more, government spending could eventually fall to zero!
“… and then you adjust for inflation (M3, not CPI) and it’s flat.”
Close enough. However, that doesn’t refute the point, as most people probably mistake effect for cause. Defense spending didn’t go up because money supply went up, money supply was increased BECAUSE the federal government wanted to spend more and not have to tax for it. Look at where the big run-ups were – Reagan and W., two of the biggest deficit spenders this planet has ever seen.
Big deficit spenders perhaps, but are you seriously suggesting that the money supply expanded more rapidly in the 80s (and so far this decade) than in the 70s? Perhaps the cause and effect went that Reagan and Bush were restoring defense spending to its historical percentage of GDP after previous inflation or cuts had decreased its value.
“but are you seriously suggesting that the money supply expanded more rapidly in the 80s (and so far this decade) than in the 70s?”
Well, going by M1 (not the best measure admittedly, but the best handy for comparing to the 70s), I don’t need to suggest, you can judge for yourself:
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/M1?&cid=25
The line’s fairly flat (relatively speaking) from 75 to 82, then has an inflection up around 83 that doesn’t level back off until 88 or 89. There’s another big run-up from 90-94, with a big levelling off until 2002, when it goes into hyperdrive again (the real increase in money supply in the last ten years is hidden by M1 because of changes in Fed policies).
On the other hand, it is very clear, when looking at other aggregates that Reagan and W. presided over greater increases in money supply than Clinton or Bush Sr. Not that I’m a fan of either of those two, and I’ll be quick to note that Clinton’s thievery was able to be accomplished largely by fraudulent accounting combined with a stock bubble – so the only reason he didn’t need to resort to inflation was timing.
They all wanted to spend more without having to pay the piper and ask for a tax increase. And yes, increased defense pork for politically connected pals was a big part of their desire to spend more.
Yes, Libertarians should be gravely concerned with the increase in defense spending, and even more with the specious ideologies that drive it.
For comparison, I would like to see a graph of the increase in social welfare spending over the same period. I am quite certain that this graph would illustrate an even greater relative increase, with this increase driven by the same statist ideology that drives defense spending, i.e., denigration of private property rights and glorification of the state.
And it’s funding failure. Iraq is a loss. Afghanistan is lost already. What is next? There might be some more blow-back in store. Better spend even MORE!
Sione
It would be revealing to divide the chart into two parts, one for national DEFENSE and the other for national OFFENSE. I would bet that the latter would be absolutely higher and have a steeper slope, especially during George W’s reign.
Is any money actually spent on national “defence”?
I’ve been searching for hard data showing the trend of U.S. defense spending. I found the chart here after seeing it referenced on “How to View Defense Spending,” at http://libertycorner.typepad.com/liberty_corner/2006/09/how_to_view_def.html , which seems to offer a much more thorough and balanced view of the data in context.
http://libertycorner.blogspot.com/2006/09/how-to-view-defense-spending.html
Comments on this entry are closed.