United States' Military Budget: Bloated?

September 13th, 2003

Fred Kaplan says that the military budget of the United States is higher than it's been since the Korean War. But does he compare the military budget to the federal government's budget as a whole, for both now and the during Korean War? No. Does he give us per capita numbers, for both this year and the Korean War? No. (Simple math suggests that—there being far more people today and a fairly equal amount of money being considered—the per capita numbers would dwarf those of today.) And does he express the military budget as a percentage of either GDP or GNP, for both this year and the Korean War? No.

At least there's no arguing with his using inflation-adjusted numbers, so should be congratulated for doing so. But the analysis comes up short, despite the nice soundbite left-leaning individuals have been supplied with.