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Monday, October 11, 2010

GOP fiscal hypocrisy on the Defence budget.

As the great economist Adam Smith put it, Ch.3, Of Public Debts, “Were the expense of war to be defrayed always by revenue raised within the year … wars would in general be more speedily concluded, and less wantonly undertaken.”

Bruce Bartlett, a key member of George W. Bush's Treasury and a Republican no longer in good standing skewers current Republican demands for budget cuts without touching Defence spending. The U.S. currently spends 54% of worldwide defense spending. The res of the world spends 46%.

They are obviously not smart enough to learn from history. The Roman Empire eventually collapsed for a number of reasons. Two prominent ones were the cost of maintaining an Empire through military force while simultaneously lowering the taxes for the wealthiest Romans. Sounds familiar.

Read the article here.

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