[lbo-talk] Nothing to Discuss? was Re: (no subject)

Nathan Newman nathanne at nathannewman.org
Fri Aug 27 08:58:51 PDT 2004


----- Original Message ----- From: "dano" <dano at well.com>

At 3:55 PM -0400 8/26/04, Doug Henwood wrote:
>Clinton: two minimum wage increases, DOMA, welfare reform, unpaid
>leave, social security contraction

-Clinton: NAFTA, no refund from the end of the Cold War

Adjusted for inflation (1993 dollars), spending on National Defense fell from $291 billion in 1993 to $244 billion by 1996. It began drifting upward in the late 1990s, but it was still less when Clinton took office than when he came in. Defense spending was 20.7% of the federal budget in 1993 and only 16.4% when he left office in 2001. As a percentage of GDP, defense spending dropped from 4.4% down to 3% of the GDP.

Compare these numbers to just a few years later in the 2004 budget, where we are spending $453 billion on the military, it's back up to 19.6% of the federal budget and 4% of the GDP.

Rather stark differences.

Nathan



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