Will no one ever refute this stupidity? [View All]

[ktlyon]

The voices of the right (George Will and others) continue to say that something is small in comparison to GDP, Gross Domestic Production. George Will says on George Stephenopolis’s show almost every week that the deficit or the Trade Deficit(Imbalance or Inequality but not deficit)is some small percentage of the total production of our country therefore no big deal. Well today on Washington Journal a Republic congressman compared the defense budget to GDP (4%) so no big deal. That is like me saying I can afford a 30,000 car because the city in which I live has 15 million dollars in total sales and earning. It is not a helpful comparison. If I want to know if I can afford that car I need to look at my income and my expenses and see if there is enough left to pay for the car. That is the comparison that government needs to make. Tax revenue and government expenses should be what we should compare if we want a realistic comparison that something meaningful could be derived from. If the congressman compared tax revenue to GDP (8%) or interest on the debt 4% or expenses for welfare at .2% then we might get the idea that the defense spending is almost 50% of budget or that interest payments were almost 50 % or that what spend on welfare is insignificant. But making that comparison all by itself is meaningless. I just wish someone on TV would call them out on this sometime.