True. And we did not have welfare programs, food stamps, Medicaid, disability insurance, Pell grants, agricultural subsidies, or social insurance programs like Social Security or Medicare.
In 1913, the military budget was $400 million. Today, it's $700 billion.
In 1913, the military budget was $400 million. Today, it's $700 billion.
Interesting. In 1913 that $400 million included a navy of 214 ships while today $700 billion includes a navy of 284 ships. In 1913 GDP was $39.1 billion so the military budget would have been just over 1% of GDP, today it would be roughly 3.75% of GDP. Of course a great deal of our defense spending goes to cover for other nations which shirk their own responsibilities, for example the top 6 European members of NATO have a combined GDP almost 10 times that of Russia.
Back in 1913 federal spending ws 2.5% of GDP while local was 5% (state was 0.8%). For 2010 the figures were 23% federal versus 11% local, local governments spend more than double as a percentage of GDP what they spent in 1913, while the ratio to federal spending has flipped to being half of what was spent by local governments to more than twice as much. And state governments have gone from less than 1% of GDP to 10%. The trend is clear, that government has been grabbing a larger share of GDP over the past century, and spending at levels of government with less accountability.
The people serve the government, and the government is electing a new people who are more reliable in rubber stamping what the government wants at the ballot box. A great deal of welfare spending is to support the new people the government is electing.
That is $14 Billion in 1913 money. Most of the spending increases are because of devalued currency. The rest of the increase, is that there is no reason to defend the entire world, or fight a major war on 3 different fronts. Most of our Naval forces are obsolete, and will be destroyed in the first week of any real conflict. If we really wanted to project force, and protect the country, a huge submarine fleet and orbital defensive and offensive platforms would be cheaper and more reliable.
True. And we did not have welfare programs, food stamps, Medicaid, disability insurance, Pell grants, agricultural subsidies, or social insurance programs like Social Security or Medicare.
And a lot of people suffered because of it.
My father was born in 1905. He had to quit school in the 3rd grade and go to work as a laborer in a local shipyard after his father died in order to help his mother feed and provide for his 5 brothers and sisters. He was a smart man that could barely read and write because he spent his entire life working every hour he could work to provide for himself and his family.
My mother was 8 years old and her sister was 5 years old when both of their parents died in the flu epidemic of 1918,and they had no where to live and no one to provide for or protect them. The local chapter of the KKK put them in the house of a one-legged Civil War veteran who needed help,with the stipulation that he use his pension money to feed,clothe,and send the little girls to school in exchange for them helping him by cooking,cleaning house,and washing clothes.
The old man abused the girls,the KKK showed up one Friday Night and "read him the law" about what was going to happen to him if he continued,and they were ok again for a few years,but without options other than marriage. My mother married a WW-1 vet that had been hit with gas during the war,and who had nightmares and drank a BUNCH. She was 13 when she married him,and she married him because the Civil War vet had died and she had nowhere to live.
Her sister moved in with them,and was a little luckier. She married my uncle when she was 15 and he was in his early 30's,and they were married until he died in his early 80's. He was a good man that didn't drink,abuse,or neglect her or their children.
There were others that were not that fortunate.
How much talent and brain power were lost back then because so many poor children were unable to go to school and advance their educations or learn trades?
People need to be careful to not let their dogma bite them in their asses. What we NEED to do is rid the welfare and similar rolls of scam artists and illegal aliens. We also need to turn it into a system where healthy people are sent to schools of some sort to learn trades so that welfare is what it was intended to be,a TEMPORARY hand out to people who need help,NOT a career.
