Defense Spending Driving U.S. Economy

[ze_dscherman]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The biggest surge in defense spending since the Korean War era helped drive U.S. economic growth ahead at a surprisingly brisk 2.4 percent annual clip in the second quarter, the Commerce Department (news - web sites) said on Thursday.

SNIP

Spending on defense, much of it to support the war in Iraq (news - web sites), shot up at a 44.1 percent rate -- the strongest since 110 percent in the third quarter of 1951 -- after falling 3.3 percent in the first three months of the year

SNIP

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=568&ncid=749&e=1&u=/nm/20030731/bs_nm/economy_dc

[ender]

1. oh, yay.

every bomb dropped, every missile constructed - is utterly wasted resources.

[lcordero]

2. Defense Spending hasn't driven SHIT

Lockheed & Martin and Boeing are laying off people just like everybody else.

[SeattleDem]

17. boeing has two entirely separate divisions

the layoffs are coming on the side of commerical aviation. The defense part of the company is doing fine, financially and job-wise.

[Kolesar]

3. Defense spending drives up inflation and interest rates

It is like throwing money into a hole in the ground.

[leftchick]

4. fuzzy math

and 3 months from now when no one is looking they will "revise" these numbers....

[Sagan]

5. Correction: DEFICIT Defense spending...

Like running up the old Visa, it can't go on forever. Or much longer, at this rate.

[Kolesar]

6. "Voodoo Economics" --George Herbert Hoover Bush

That is what GW tagged Reagan's plan in 1980 when running against Reagan.

[David__77]

13. the "voodoo" is tax cuts...

"Voodoo economics," which is an appropriate term, refers to Reagan's "supply-side" package of tax cuts aimed at redistributing national wealth upward. This wealth in turn is to "trickle down" to the masses. It is "voodoo" faith in this mystical market process Bush referred too.

[punpirate]

7. Hmm...

... after 9/11, Bush was telling everyone to go shopping, to spend our way out of a recession. If anyone had the money to spend, that would have made sense--fully two-thirds of the GDP is based on consumer spending.

But, with jobs disappearing entirely, or going offshore, and consumer debt at all-time highs, there's less to go shopping with.

Guess that means that war is just another economic bubble, temporarily sustaining the stock market while everything else gets steadily worse. Does that say to anyone what I think it does? That war's going to be here for a good long while, propping up the market? *sigh*

[ramapo]

8. What a waste

Wouldn't it be nice if these billions were going towards repairing and improving our infrastructure

[PROGRESSIVE1]

9. This is his great recovery?

:wtf: is this???
Government contracts going to Bushco's freinds does not count as a recovery!!!

:mad:

[CWebster]

10. Some time ago

I read an article on one of those defense watchdog sites that stated this was the plan all along. Every now and again I search for it to keep it bookmarked but I haven't had any success locating it.

[catzies]

14. That sounds like Al Martin's thinking.

He calls it BFLAP --the "Bush Fantasy Land Accounting Plan."

http://www.almartinraw.com/archive.html

[hadrons]

11. All at the low, low cost of one U.S. Soldier a day ....

Iraqi deaths are free of charge

[David__77]

12. GOP Keynesism

This is "Keynesian" growth--growth through government spending. Tax cuts are Keynesian too. Of course, ultimately, more money chases fewer products. The result is ultimately higher inflation or deflationary collapse.

[teryang]

15. Complete fantasy

Consumers drive the economy now. Consumer confidence is down. Inventories going up. Defense dollars spent overseas will hurt the economy. Dollars spent on defense do nothing for productivity.

[hotphlash]

16. The Dems have to use this to their advantage.

If Bush says "Look! Growth! See!" The American people will see growth. We have to water down the message for the masses. Serve it in a nice bite size morsel.

Let them know our economy is growing because of the war and the war has to continue for us to grow under the Bush plan. "War = $"

[gasperc]

18. Since when is 2.4% brisk???????????

I'm looking over at my GDP chart I keep at my desk and the last time GDP was less than 2.5% before Q2 2000 was in Q3 1996 and that was after a (well if 2.4% is brisk then) monstorous 6.9% Q2 1996.

[dfong63]

19. the economy needs another shot in the arm, let's invade north korea

[headlouse]

20. nope -- not a good enough target

they don't have oil

[amazona]

22. they have oil

http://globalpublicmedia.com/SECTIONS/ENERGY/oil.north-korea.php

Everybody's got oil. Even Trinidad and Tobago has oil.

We attacked Iraq because they were disarmed and had no weapons, not because they had oil. The oil is just a nice bonus, but there has to be more to the story.

[headlouse]

21. I'd rather not live in a war-based economy

I mean I guess it could be done but I'd rather our government spend money on creating things rather then destroying them.