Spending as a share of GDP has been on the rise for decades, with a small decline in the late 1990s as a result of explosive economic growth. Revenue has remained relatively constant. The problem is spending, not big declines in tax revenue. The boomers spent way too much and weren't willing to pay for it.

To be fair, it's kinda natural and reasonable that countries are more concerned and invested in wars the closer they are to the warzone. It's natural that Poland and Romania and Germany are taking in more Ukrainian refugees than the United States. It's also natural that they are more concerned about the war potentially spreading. And regarding the geostrategic picture - the way the war in Ukraine has gone has made it quite clear that Russia would not have the military strength to conquer Europe, even without American intervention. If push really came to shove, Europe could solve this Russia problem on its own. In this sense, it actually makes sense when the American public is rather agnostic about this war and not willing to do more.

From a U.S. perspective, this is really more about minimizing its own economic losses as well as those of its allies in Western Europe than about having to save Ukraine ("and thus the world").
And it is indirectly about upholding NATO credibility and deterrence with regard to China/Taiwan. But those are all things that fly over the plebs' heads and considering the current inflation woes, I can't really blame them.

Overall public spending has been on the rise, but an increasing share of it is going into social programs. Iirc, public spending on infrastructure, research and education has been outpaced by GDP growth.

And we continually cut taxes on rich people, allowed the benefits of that spending to disproportionately go to those companies, and didn't invest in long term projects because it wouldn't benefit powerful companies. Why didn't we invest in green energy 50 years ago? Why have we allowed huge companies to pay dirt while subsidizing the wages with welfare?

The spending should have been the same, but more of the revenue should be coming from corporations and less towards welfare programs by enforcing things like a living wage and national healthcare.

It's only "spending" if you look at it in a restrictive way and not at the total context. It's much more what we spent it on, which was increasingly not the public good and when it was it was a subsidy for companies.

This post was edited by NetflixAdaptationWidow on Apr 4 2022 11:41pm

that did make me chuckle

best impression of void ever

This post was edited by dro94 on Apr 5 2022 12:14am

Revenue has remained relatively constant, even when we've kept cutting taxes. Lowers the threshold for cost-to-benefit of tax avoidance strategies.

We kept up defense spending even after the Cold War ended. We also spent like a drunken sailor with the Social Security surpluses on Great Society projects. Those surpluses are gone, and the Great Society is a monumental failure that we're still paying for.

I dont know enough about this aspect to comment, other then it is widely known America spends some coins on defense spending. My impression is that America would be better off improving its infrastructure (transport, services etc) and improving its foundation while at the same time the 2 political parties need to seriously consider moving away from party politics and agreeing on common ground where possible for things other then war, in order to put America in a better (long term) position. I accept that looks like communism but it is what it is.

staying on topic I seem to recall the expression "bothsidesism" being directed at me. I would rather say I am neutral. anyway touching on the latest narrative in the topic, here are different versions of the Bucha story:

i accept this is very long so TLDR: I would tend to agree with the Western Narrative here re: atrocities committed by Russia in Bucha and surrounding area.

this is from the BBC (England):

The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres has called for an independent investigation into "the images of civilians killed in Bucha, Ukraine". After Russian troops withdrew from the town on the outskirts of Kyiv, images of bodies lying in the streets subsequently emerged and members of media organisations also saw corpses. Ukraine accused Russia of a "deliberate massacre" - but Russia has said it was "staged" after its forces withdrew from the area. It made a series of unfounded claims about the footage from Bucha. Claim: 'Faked dead bodies'

After the Russian withdrawal, footage taken from a car as it drove through the town showed bodies on either side of the road. The Russian Embassy in Canada tweeted the video, with the caption "staged video showing faked dead bodies in the town of Bucha near Kiev". But in satellite imagery taken of Bucha on 19 March - almost two weeks before Russian troops withdrew from the area - what appear to be bodies can be seen on the roadside.

this is from TASS (Russia):

Russian Security Council deputy chairman noted that "enraged beasts from nationalist battalions and territorial defense forces are ready to casually kill their own civilians in a bid to dehumanize Russia and tarnish its image as much as possible"

this is from Foxnews (America): (btw this is Zelensky being quoted)

"I’ve visited our cities in the Kyiv region, which we liberated from the occupiers: Stoyanka, Irpin, Bucha," Zelenskyy said in his daily address shortly after midnight Tuesday. "Of course, now this area does not look like yesterday. The bodies of killed people, killed Ukrainians have already been taken from most streets. But in the yards, in the houses, the dead still remain." "We have just begun an investigation into all that the occupiers have done," the president added. "At present, there is information about more than three hundred people killed and tortured in Bucha alone. It is likely that the list of victims will be much larger when the whole city is checked. And this is only one city. One of the many Ukrainian communities that the Russian military managed to seize."

this is from Al Jazeera (Quatar):

Zelenskyy says 300 killed in Bucha. Ukrainian president urges investigation into alleged war crimes as he prepares to address the UN Security Council.

this is from India:

Bucha's mayor said 300 residents had been killed during a month-long occupation by the Russian army. Reuters could not immediately verify the allegations by Arestovych and Fedoruk. Ukraine's foreign minister called on the International Criminal Court to collect evidence of what he called Russian war crimes, while the foreign ministers of France and Britain said their countries would support any such probe. However, legal experts say a prosecution of Putin or other Russian leaders would face high hurdles and could take years. Human Rights Watch said it had documented "several cases of Russian military forces committing laws-of-war violations" in the Ukrainian regions of Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Kyiv. Ukraine's Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said prosecutors investigating possible war crimes by Russia had found 410 bodies in towns near Kyiv, of which 140 had been examined.

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in the aftermath of Russian withdrawal from the area it is more plausible that these crimes were committed, noting this is not a unique situation in history, but rather the aftermath of the exercise.

This post was edited by ferdia on Apr 5 2022 04:32am

Gas imports from Russia measured at the Velke station close to 1 year highs

https://twitter.com/JavierBlas/status/1510881828474957827

What do you think Germany is going to ultimately do (or be asked to and do, by the EU) re: gas from Russia? I personally do not have the faintest idea on this. what's the current state on this issue and what is expected to happen over the next couple of weeks ? any guesses are welcome.

Is it that Putin is looking to remove the entire block (EU) from russian gas ( a scenario bad for putin and bad for the eu ) or is it that he wants to remove certain countries from russian gas (less dire and if possible probably better for putin). i read on Reuters that he cant re-distribute the gas elsewhere, say the mdidle east or china, noting the fields/pipes are not interconnected.

This post was edited by ferdia on Apr 5 2022 06:26am

They will continue buying gas untill the contract is over (2025) then will try to keep as much as possible in their gas storage facilities while building atomic power plants (by UK or France, takes about 10 years). So it's gonna be 7 years of overpriced gas.