Foreign Policy Costs YOU $3,125/year

1. 61

   Evan G Rogersposted 15 years ago

   A recent claim by Representative Ron Paul claimed that the US's foreign policy costs just over (just = $21 billion)  $1 trillion per year.
   
   Politifact.com ran an article ( http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter … gn-policy/ ) verifying the claim - read for yourself and see if you agree with how they calculated it (I find it very accurate).
   
   I just ran the number "$1 trillion" and divided it by 320 million (around the population of the US), and found that our foreign policy is costing Americans roughly one-tenth (10%) of their income each year (average income tends to be around $46k --http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_national_average_American_income )
   
   I wanted to see if people find it worth it!

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      psycheskinnerposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      Well, not "me" anyway.  I'm a "foreigner"....

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   TMMasonposted 15 years ago

   If foriegn and economic policy continues on as is... you will beg, one day soon, for a return to the days when it only cost you 10% of your money a year.

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3. 69

   MikeNVposted 15 years ago

   Fun with math!
   
   Now if you take your numbers and multiply by 13 you get what each person owes to the National Debt.  As the National Debt is $13 Trillion.
   
   And if we assume your numbers are correct and they are spending 10% on "Foreign Policy" as defined by Ron Paul... which basically means Military Spending to enforce our belief systems on the world, we have a huge expense... but one that can be paid.
   
   But take 10% x 13 and you get a National Debt that CAN NOT be repaid.  And how much longer can we pay the interest on the debt?  Is this the future of America... perpetually stretch the Average person to pay the interest on debt.  Making the possibility of "Getting Ahead" impossible, and for many just "Getting by" impossible?
   
   Americans already owe double the National Debt in PERSONAL DEBT.  Another $26 Trillion!
   
   Fun with Math!  We are SCREEEEEEEEEEEWED!
   
   Lets say Odumbo gets his way yet again and allows 30 Million Illegals Citizenship.
   
   How much money does the average Illegal Make?  $7.50 and hour?  $10 an hour?  How much?  The argument for them is that they contribute so much to the economy or that they do jobs Americans won't do.
   
   But if you take their ENTIRE SALARY and tax it 100% they still can not contribute enough money to reduce the deficit at all! In fact they will increase it.  Why?  Because they would be in a tax bracket where their contributions are so low they do not offset the social services they use!
   
   Welcome to America... enjoy the collapse.
   
   Way to go Odumbo... whose economic plan is to borrow, print, and spend.... and of course BLAME BLAME BLAME.

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      Evan G Rogersposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      thanks for commenting, but I don't think your logic on the "immigrant" issue is accurate.
      
      One way to look at it would be the way you did - just let people in to work, and then tax the crap out of them. Indeed, that would be an... idiotic way of trying to control the debt.
      
      But another way to think about it is that immigrants (illegal or legal) come to the country and start working. This would lower wages as the supply of labor increase. And this would, in turn, make the minimum wage even more ridiculous than it currently is (but this is another issue for another day).
      
      With the decreased labor costs, products in general should decrease in price - cost of production decreased, and the demand to steal money away from competitors will drive the prices down. As prices go down, then, technically, so will tax revenue on sales tax!
      
      Anyway - immigration is by no means the answer to the deficit problem.
      
      But don't think of immigrants as bad - all humans immigrated from the land of Storkovia.

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         ryankettposted 15 years agoin reply to this

         Neither of you are looking at the bigger picture.... lower prices also means more exports.
         
         Price deflation is not what you want though, that could be catostrophic.

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            Mishaposted 15 years agoin reply to this

            Why?

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               ryankettposted 15 years agoin reply to this

               You want to know why deflation could be bad?

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                  Mishaposted 15 years agoin reply to this

                  Yep, I tend to think that lower prices are better than higher. Like I can buy more of the same product for the same money. Especially when prices are as inflated as nowadays when we are jumping from one bubble to another. What is bad about it?

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                     psycheskinnerposted 15 years agoin reply to this

                     Deflation can lead to reduce wages and economic depression.

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                        Mishaposted 15 years agoin reply to this

                        Care to elaborate on how exactly it can do it?

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                     ryankettposted 15 years agoin reply to this

                     Deflation is a nasty spiral which is very difficult to get out of. If prices are in decline, then nobody will spend their cash. If you have your eyes on a new car at $30000, and you have deflation of 10%, do you buy at $30000 or wait until you can get the same new car for $27000 a year later? What happens when you get to that point? Do you spend $27000 or wait for it to cost $24300 a year on? Would you buy the latest model of car for $30000 if the next model is going to cost $24300?
                     
                     Deflation is precisely what worsened and prolonged the problems in 1933, I suggest having a search for "why deflation is bad" or something....
                     
                     Price is set by demand. Deflation means a shift from high aggregate demand to low aggregate demand, with no demand their is no consumption. Consumption underpins your entire economy, without consumption your investments fail, corporations fail, unemployment balloons.
                     
                     If America was experiencing inflation right now of 10% you would not be enjoying low prices Misha, you would be keeping hold of your cash. Because the 10% gain in value, in real terms, over 1 year.... would far surpass the current returns in any savings account. Its not hard to understand, people keep hold of their money, the economy fails. If keeping money under a mattress becomes more profitable, in real terms, than investment markets.... then the whole system really is screwed.
                     
                     I am no economist, but there will be plenty to read on this topic, no positives to be had from deflation.

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                        Mishaposted 15 years agoin reply to this

                        I am not an economist either, but why do you assume I did not read anything on the topic? I likely read a bit more than you, just because I lived a bit longer
                        
                        No, you did not explain why deflation is bad. No, depression is not a result of deflation, quite the contrary - deflation is one of the results of depression in fiat money economy. I tend to think people stop paying because they stop getting wages, not vice versa as public education leads you to believe.
                        
                        Economics is not the exact science like mathematics or physics. It is more like medicine. The difference is medicine is working with millions and billions of cases, while macroeconomics is working with thousands at best - and it is pretty hard to draw any statistically viable conclusion from that limited number of observations. So I would not be that trusting to just one of the economic schools. Seeing if other schools make more sense can actually open your eyes.
                        
                        As for people getting more frugal with their money - isn't this exactly what we need now, as many of us are saying for quite some time, and I think you were saying things along these lines, too? And when I really need a car and can afford it, I will buy it and you will, too

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                           Dave Barnettposted 15 years agoin reply to this

                           Actually, in my OPINION, foreign policy has cost us two Manhattan towers, a new front on the Pentagon,  several thousand lives, many planes, more than one battlefront, and more tax dollars than you could spend in a lifetime.

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