The War is the Cause of our Budget Deficit and Other Myths

Do you ever get tired of hearing how the wars in Iraq and/or Afghanistan are bankrupting our country? I sure do. I'm not saying the wars have absolutely nothing to do with the deficit, nor am I saying either or both of them are just, but the idea that they are primarily responsible for the economic state of this country is based on myth and Democrat party propaganda, more than anything else.

In particular, I would like to point to Figure 4-1 in the Congressional Budget Office Long Term Forecast, which shows that compared to historical levels, current defense spending is much, much less than during the mid 80's and a little more than half of what we spent throughout much of the 60's as a percentage of GDP, which is the real measure of government spending.



The real question is then, obviously, why is our budget deficit so high? The answer to that question requires far more time than I have right now, so the CBO LTBO link is my teaser. Ross Perot also has some charts that can serve the purpose of a teaser to stimulate thought on the real causes of our federal budget deficit.

MB