It's a shame that this sort of thinking is rampant when in reality, there is very few countries which have overtaken us. Germany, Japan and China are the only immediate ones which spring to mind.
Quite, to assume your country is in terminal decline is, basically, to give up.
Originally Posted by Louis VI the Fat
Defense spending is public spending. As such, normal left/right impulses apply. What better way to artificially prop up hurting industries, reduce unemployment and subsidise lagging regions, than through defense spending? In recent decades, it has been the left in France and the UK that has done this, and consequently increased actual spending, whereas the right has done the cuts.
"Actual spending"? You know, the "actual" price of lamb in the UK has increased in recent years, but it's still about 25% of what it was 20 years ago when one factors in inflation and the increase in wealth. Similarly, while the figure in £ of defence spending may have risen, it has fallen as a percentage of GDP, at a time when the country has become more wealthy, tax revenue has risen, and so has inflation. Frankly, it would be virtually impossible not to raise defence spending in "real" terms over such a period, as the armed forces would collapse if you did not.
So, by any meaninful measure defence spending has fallen.
The fact is, we spend less than half the percentage of our national wealth on defence than we did 20 years ago, so we can almost certainly afford to spend more (as a percentage of GDP) over the next 20 years.
"If it wears trousers generally I don't pay attention."
Originally Posted by Philipvs Vallindervs Calicvla
"Actual spending"? You know, the "actual" price of lamb in the UK has increased in recent years, but it's still about 25% of what it was 20 years ago when one factors in inflation and the increase in wealth. Similarly, while the figure in £ of defence spending may have risen, it has fallen as a percentage of GDP, at a time when the country has become more wealthy, tax revenue has risen, and so has inflation. Frankly, it would be virtually impossible not to raise defence spending in "real" terms over such a period, as the armed forces would collapse if you did not.
So, by any meaninful measure defence spending has fallen.
I am afraid this is not correct. By all measures defense spending has increased since 1998, Labour's first full year in power.
Disregarding inflation, Labour has increased defense spending by fifty percent. This is not the most relevant figure. Better is a measure by constant 2009 pounds, that is, corrected for inflation. By this measure, Labour has increased defense spending by about 25%.
This enormous increase, incidentally, is almost singular within Europe. In stark contrast to the next three biggest European defense spenders, whose defense spending saw in this period a far smaller increase (France), or even a decrease (Germany, Italy).
In Western Europe, only Spain and Finland have seen a similarly large increase in defense spending. Spain, because of its long awakening from its dictatorship, and Finland because of the end of Finlandisation and the need to project neutrality.
Defense spending as a percentage of GDP has mostly been stabilised under Labour. Under Thatcher (especially after 1985) and Major, defense spending as percentage of GDP was severly slashed. Halved.
Labour put an end to these endless defense spending cuts.
What do these numbers mean? The most acutely relevant measure is defense as percentage of GDP:
Thatcher came in power in 1979:
1980 230.8 5.85
Major came in power in 1990:
1991 589.739 4.14
Blair came in power in 1997:
1998 865.71 2.83
It is now 2010:
2010 1411 3.08
Two things are striking:
- The defense cuts happened under the Conservatives, whereas Labour stabilised defense spending.
- The last two Conservative PMs halved British defense spending. The vast majority of this outerworldly decrease happened before the fall of the wall, rubbishing the Tories' perennial excuse.
I think somebody in this thread said it earlier: Labour hates the military, but increases its funding. The Conservatives profes to love the military, but cut back its funding.
Don't blame me, blame the numbers.
Anything unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
Texan by birth, woodpecker by the grace of God
I would be the voice of your conscience if you had one -Brenus
Bt why woulf we uy lsn'y Staraft - Fragony
Not everything blue and underlined is a link
Re: The United Kingdom Elections 2010
Originally Posted by tibilicus
Reply With Quote
Re: The United Kingdom Elections 2010
Bookmarks