September 08, 2014
Robert Samuelson apparently believes it would have based on his column today calling for more military spending. There are a few points worth noting about this piece.
First Samuelson compares current spending at 3.4 percent to the post-World War II average of 5.5 percent of GDP. For most of the post-war period we were engaged in a military build-up to counter a rival super-power (the Soviet Union). The average also includes long periods of actual war (Korea, Vietnam, Iraq I and II, and Afghanistan). It should not be surprising that at a time when the country is not nearly as engaged in armed conflicts, and faces no major foe, it would spend less on its military.
Samuelson apparently wants the money for the military to come at least in part from spending on seniors, commenting at the end: “Democrats who will cut almost anything except retirement spending.”
The cuts to retirement spending that Samuelson wants are problematic. Social Security taxes are designated for Social Security. Samuelson might not have a problem taxing people for Social Security and then using the money for the military, but the public might have a problem with that idea, as would the people who depend on their votes.
There are substantial potential savings in Medicare, but this is because the United States pays more than twice as much per person for its health care as other wealthy countries. However getting savings would require cutting the incomes of doctors, drug companies, and medical equipment suppliers. These are all very powerful lobbies which Congress is reluctant to challenge. While Samuelson implies that the issue is seniors getting benefits that are too generous, the cost issue to the government is that we pay too much for the same benefits that people get in all wealthy countries.
Comments