Financial Grief
As the research assistant for the philosophy department I was asked to find economic statistics, military expenditures, population, costs, casualties (civilian and military) for the American Civil War, Iraq War and the Napoleonic War (1799-1815). So the first two were easy enough. The civil war took a bit of work, but it all came together. The Napoleonic War has proven to be very difficult. I tracked down two books at the Colorado College library. So I stopped by there and found the books. Then the books didn't help, so I searched through those book's sources. Those sources led me to two journal articiles. The journal articles led me to these massively huge books on British expenditures (everything you wanted to know about the price of linen and more). So finally after much research and many many hours spent digging through dusty 1950s books, I found the statistics for Britain and France. Now how the hell am I going to find the information for Austria, Russia and Prussia?
SO while doing this research I have come to a conclusion of my own. America doesn't know how to do warfare. Every other engagement that any other country undergoes, they go from a position of deficit spending to a sudden thriving economy. They expand land ownership. They gain massive work forces of basically slave or serf labor. The value placed on their goods goes up. They decrease national debt by conquering their debtors. The money supply is increased while at the same time adding value to their currency. Not true for America. When America goes to war we suddenly hit new highs in deficit spending. Our land ownership barely changes or the land gained doesn't help us any (exception being our holding of the Phillipines after WW1). National debt goes through the roof. The value of our currency declines while our money supply increases. We gain no additional labor force and in fact decrease our pre-war labor force significantly.
So what the hell is it about America. This isn't what I believe we do wrong, but this is simply an analysis. America fails to do warfare for profit and even if we are trying to we screw it up. Napoleon takes the country from -300,000,000 franc deficit in 1796, war starts in 1799, by 1805 the deficit in the country is at 18,500,000 francs. Germany during world war I and II go from an extreme deficit position to a temporarily thriving economy. Rome didn't even pay their soldiers until the rise of the empire and instead completely financed their world machine through looting and plundering. Alexander I would wager took his economy from decently well to thriving by conquest. The Spartans early in their history took over the Laconians and enslaved the entire population (Helots). For the rest of their history they used slave labor for everything and in fact most of their military would be composed of slaves. Then comes America which seems to can't get its head screwed on right. Do we wish to be altruistic or do we wish to be conquerors. Nah, we should be altruistic conquerors. So instead of making a fortune or at least making some good relations, we fuck up both.
Iraq (2002 pre-war)
GDP (PPP): $58 billion (2002 est.)
GDP-real growth rate: -3% (2002 est.)
GDP- composition by sector
Agriculture: 6%
Industry: 13%
Services: 81% (1993 est.)
Labor Force: 6.5 million (2002 est.)
Exports : $13 billion f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Imports : $7.8 billion f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Economic aid -recipient : $327.5 million (1995)
Military expenditures -dollar figure : $1.3 billion (FY00)
Iraq (currently)
GDP (PPP): $94.1 billion (2005 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate): $46.5 billion (2005 est.)
GDP-real growth rate: 2.4% (2005 est.)
GDP- composition by sector
Agriculture: 7.3%
Industry: 66.6%
Services: 26.1% (2004 est.)
Labor force: 7.4 million (2004 est.)
Exports : $17.78 billion f.o.b.
Export partners : US 51.9%, Spain 7.3%, Japan 6.6%, Italy 5.7%, Canada 5.2% (2004)
Imports : $19.57 billion f.o.b.
Import partners : Syria 22.9%, Turkey 19.5%, US 9.2%, Jordan 6.7%, Germany 4.9% (2004)
Military expenditures-dollar figure: $1.3 billion (FY00)
So the Iraq economy is actually doing pretty well according to these statistics. So why is this? First off the obvious from these statistics is that their exports is has increased by 6.78 billion. But their GDP has increased by roughly 36 billion. So where does the other roughly 29 billion come from. Obviously it is from the United States (and other countries to some extent) has been dumping money over there. Our deficit spending is at a new high and the debt cap has just been raised to 9 trillion dollars, a figure that I am sure we will reach before Bush's term is up. So the reason we needed to finance with more debt was because the United States government has been hit with a few natural disasters, has been rebuilding from terrorist attacks, great that is about 20 billion I would guess. Okay then our economy was hit without a decrease in government spending, that is the vast majority of it. But we are talking about figures in the trillions here not billions. The Iraq war effort, Afganistan war effort, increased foreign spending, tax cut to upper 2% of the population. So today's youth will be faced in their adult life with repaying a 9 trillion dollar debt. This is in part from Cold War spending which was way too much. We outpaced the Russians very early in the race and then decided to keep building for the hell of it. Thank god we have enough nukes to decimate the globe twenty times over. The cold war policies were protested by the youth. The Vietnam war shouldn't be forgotten, once again protested by the youth. Afganistan, Iraq War, allowed and expenses barely noticable, protested expenses still racking up like a drunk man at the poker table.
So in essence it has been the policy of America to finance wars through debt that becomes the burder of the next generation, meanwhile that next generation protests the hell out of it.
So 9 trillion dollars, and it is expected that since the United States government will spend 400 billion in deficit this year and next, in part because of a just approved 91 billion dollar war bill that is expected to pass, that this amount will increase to even higher amounts. The Democrats have been screaming mismanagement of funds for years now, and this bill to increase our debt cap rode on the shoulders of Republicans.
Now since I fault many people who do not give alternatives when blasting the policies of the president I inted to. So first this government needs to start cutting programs. The country needs to make a choice, are we socialist or are we not. If we are socialist, drastically increase taxes from the current roughly 17% of income to about 30% of income (Germany level), hell maybe even higher. Germany is going through massive health care reforms due to poor funding, so might as well account for that now. Institute national health care and every other nice and happy socialist program. Option 2 is pretty much the exact opposite. Step one decrease military expenditures significantly. Pull out of South Korea, tear down offensive bases around the world, especially in areas like Italy, Germany and France. Decrease recruitment, start making some fucking friends around the world so that we don't have to have the military capacity to conquer the entire world. Currently about 70% of our taxes go to military. This is ridiculous. As a nation we sulk at spending 4 billion more in home repairs and infrastructure in LA but jump to the chance to spend 90 billion in Iraq. Next get this damn war over with. I am in no way suggesting a pull out as that would accomplish nothing. But let's get the job done. That takes a post of its own and I currently don't have time. Next, start making plans to cut foreign aid. We spend billions on helping out around the world. Nobody appreciates it. Iraq never said, thanks for the food. Koreans don't like our help. North Korean food shipments feed their military not the starving. Palastine doesn't get enough money to even count, so we need to decide whether we went to keep them on our leash or actually help them.
So soon I will post my actual ideas on what this country should do. This is just letting everyone know that I am pissed off at everything about this country and make others start thinking about the issues. So yes Bush is an idiot and I hate his guts, but I hold this view and have solutions. Lastly, no I still don't disagree with ousting Saddam, but I do disagree with the management of the war. We went there and for a while had overwhelming public support from them. But as soon as we stuck around for a bit our ugly, corrupt, soddomizing head reared up and has ever since fucked us over. Also I have always disagreed with the reasons for invading but said at the time that at least we are getting some good done in the process. Well apparently I gave Bush way too much credit. He is too idiotic to make anything good from this. My predicition 400 billion in deficit spending for the next 4 years. More excuses for deficit spending once we get the next president. Our next president will lie to get into office. But then again, can we blame them? Not like anyone would vote for someone that said the truth.
SO while doing this research I have come to a conclusion of my own. America doesn't know how to do warfare. Every other engagement that any other country undergoes, they go from a position of deficit spending to a sudden thriving economy. They expand land ownership. They gain massive work forces of basically slave or serf labor. The value placed on their goods goes up. They decrease national debt by conquering their debtors. The money supply is increased while at the same time adding value to their currency. Not true for America. When America goes to war we suddenly hit new highs in deficit spending. Our land ownership barely changes or the land gained doesn't help us any (exception being our holding of the Phillipines after WW1). National debt goes through the roof. The value of our currency declines while our money supply increases. We gain no additional labor force and in fact decrease our pre-war labor force significantly.
So what the hell is it about America. This isn't what I believe we do wrong, but this is simply an analysis. America fails to do warfare for profit and even if we are trying to we screw it up. Napoleon takes the country from -300,000,000 franc deficit in 1796, war starts in 1799, by 1805 the deficit in the country is at 18,500,000 francs. Germany during world war I and II go from an extreme deficit position to a temporarily thriving economy. Rome didn't even pay their soldiers until the rise of the empire and instead completely financed their world machine through looting and plundering. Alexander I would wager took his economy from decently well to thriving by conquest. The Spartans early in their history took over the Laconians and enslaved the entire population (Helots). For the rest of their history they used slave labor for everything and in fact most of their military would be composed of slaves. Then comes America which seems to can't get its head screwed on right. Do we wish to be altruistic or do we wish to be conquerors. Nah, we should be altruistic conquerors. So instead of making a fortune or at least making some good relations, we fuck up both.
Iraq (2002 pre-war)
GDP (PPP): $58 billion (2002 est.)
GDP-real growth rate: -3% (2002 est.)
GDP- composition by sector
Agriculture: 6%
Industry: 13%
Services: 81% (1993 est.)
Labor Force: 6.5 million (2002 est.)
Exports : $13 billion f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Imports : $7.8 billion f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Economic aid -recipient : $327.5 million (1995)
Military expenditures -dollar figure : $1.3 billion (FY00)
Iraq (currently)
GDP (PPP): $94.1 billion (2005 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate): $46.5 billion (2005 est.)
GDP-real growth rate: 2.4% (2005 est.)
GDP- composition by sector
Agriculture: 7.3%
Industry: 66.6%
Services: 26.1% (2004 est.)
Labor force: 7.4 million (2004 est.)
Exports : $17.78 billion f.o.b.
Export partners : US 51.9%, Spain 7.3%, Japan 6.6%, Italy 5.7%, Canada 5.2% (2004)
Imports : $19.57 billion f.o.b.
Import partners : Syria 22.9%, Turkey 19.5%, US 9.2%, Jordan 6.7%, Germany 4.9% (2004)
Military expenditures-dollar figure: $1.3 billion (FY00)
So the Iraq economy is actually doing pretty well according to these statistics. So why is this? First off the obvious from these statistics is that their exports is has increased by 6.78 billion. But their GDP has increased by roughly 36 billion. So where does the other roughly 29 billion come from. Obviously it is from the United States (and other countries to some extent) has been dumping money over there. Our deficit spending is at a new high and the debt cap has just been raised to 9 trillion dollars, a figure that I am sure we will reach before Bush's term is up. So the reason we needed to finance with more debt was because the United States government has been hit with a few natural disasters, has been rebuilding from terrorist attacks, great that is about 20 billion I would guess. Okay then our economy was hit without a decrease in government spending, that is the vast majority of it. But we are talking about figures in the trillions here not billions. The Iraq war effort, Afganistan war effort, increased foreign spending, tax cut to upper 2% of the population. So today's youth will be faced in their adult life with repaying a 9 trillion dollar debt. This is in part from Cold War spending which was way too much. We outpaced the Russians very early in the race and then decided to keep building for the hell of it. Thank god we have enough nukes to decimate the globe twenty times over. The cold war policies were protested by the youth. The Vietnam war shouldn't be forgotten, once again protested by the youth. Afganistan, Iraq War, allowed and expenses barely noticable, protested expenses still racking up like a drunk man at the poker table.
So in essence it has been the policy of America to finance wars through debt that becomes the burder of the next generation, meanwhile that next generation protests the hell out of it.
So 9 trillion dollars, and it is expected that since the United States government will spend 400 billion in deficit this year and next, in part because of a just approved 91 billion dollar war bill that is expected to pass, that this amount will increase to even higher amounts. The Democrats have been screaming mismanagement of funds for years now, and this bill to increase our debt cap rode on the shoulders of Republicans.
Now since I fault many people who do not give alternatives when blasting the policies of the president I inted to. So first this government needs to start cutting programs. The country needs to make a choice, are we socialist or are we not. If we are socialist, drastically increase taxes from the current roughly 17% of income to about 30% of income (Germany level), hell maybe even higher. Germany is going through massive health care reforms due to poor funding, so might as well account for that now. Institute national health care and every other nice and happy socialist program. Option 2 is pretty much the exact opposite. Step one decrease military expenditures significantly. Pull out of South Korea, tear down offensive bases around the world, especially in areas like Italy, Germany and France. Decrease recruitment, start making some fucking friends around the world so that we don't have to have the military capacity to conquer the entire world. Currently about 70% of our taxes go to military. This is ridiculous. As a nation we sulk at spending 4 billion more in home repairs and infrastructure in LA but jump to the chance to spend 90 billion in Iraq. Next get this damn war over with. I am in no way suggesting a pull out as that would accomplish nothing. But let's get the job done. That takes a post of its own and I currently don't have time. Next, start making plans to cut foreign aid. We spend billions on helping out around the world. Nobody appreciates it. Iraq never said, thanks for the food. Koreans don't like our help. North Korean food shipments feed their military not the starving. Palastine doesn't get enough money to even count, so we need to decide whether we went to keep them on our leash or actually help them.
So soon I will post my actual ideas on what this country should do. This is just letting everyone know that I am pissed off at everything about this country and make others start thinking about the issues. So yes Bush is an idiot and I hate his guts, but I hold this view and have solutions. Lastly, no I still don't disagree with ousting Saddam, but I do disagree with the management of the war. We went there and for a while had overwhelming public support from them. But as soon as we stuck around for a bit our ugly, corrupt, soddomizing head reared up and has ever since fucked us over. Also I have always disagreed with the reasons for invading but said at the time that at least we are getting some good done in the process. Well apparently I gave Bush way too much credit. He is too idiotic to make anything good from this. My predicition 400 billion in deficit spending for the next 4 years. More excuses for deficit spending once we get the next president. Our next president will lie to get into office. But then again, can we blame them? Not like anyone would vote for someone that said the truth.