Military Spending As Percentage Of GDP

I heard President Bush say that even though we are spending a lot of money on our current wars, it is a relatively small amount compared to historical expenditures. He said that we spent over 10% of GDP on the military in past decades compared to only about 4% of GDP now.

I think this is fuzzy math.

First, if I tell people that I only spend 4% of my income on trips to the casino, people might think that seems reasonable. However, what if people find out that I spend 150% of my income on other things so I am in a major debt hole. Suddenly, spending 4% in casinos sounds like a very bad idea. The United States owes trillions of dollars in debt.

Second, Bush said our military budget is only 4% of GDP. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have not been a part of the "official" military budget. They have been funded through supplemental appropriations with money being borrowed and added to our huge level of debt. This is like saying I only spend 4% of my income at the casinos, but withhold the fact that I also put a lot of casino spending on my credit cards which is not being included in the 4% number.

Third, GDP shouldn't be the benchmark for carving out a percentage. What our GDP is doesn't directly relate to how much revenue our government is collecting. It doesn't factor in how much debt we have. It doesn't factor in how much of a trade imbalance we have.

For these reasons, I think the way George W. Bush dismisses the amount of money being spent on miltary strategies is another form of misleading political spin being used by the Bush Administration. We shouldn't accept his use of fuzzy math.