In response to my "US deficits have been greatly exacerbated by the cost of US terrorist attacks, invasions and land-grabs", Buzz Baxter said "When it comes to geopolitical things you don't get it."
I think today's Defence budget announcement proves my point. US$447 billion is one hell of a lot of money to spend on making war. If you add together the defense budgets of the next 9 highest-spending nations you don't reach anywhere close to 447 billion. Buzz, I may not get it when it comes to geopolitical things, but I sure can do sums. The US population is 293 million so your Government is going to spend $1525 in the next year to "defend" each per man, woman and child in the US. The US has 162 million taxpayers, so "defence" is going to cost each US tax-payer $1808 in the next year. These are sums, Buzz, not geopolitics. How much tax do you pay ? What proportion of your tax bill is this ? Peter O'Byrne _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids
