Courtesy of Bruce Krasting.
We got a big reminder of the importance of government spending in the Q4 GDP report. The damn military delayed some expenditures for a few months, and it knocked 1.3% of the quarter’s growth rate. If it weren’t for the pikers at the Pentagon, we would have been in the black. GDP = Jobs, and everyone wants jobs, so it would be “patriotic” if the Generals and Admirals got off of their asses and and got back to spending. Right?
As it turns out, the Top Brass can’t move the economy’s needle, at least not compared to other parts of the government that are spending the bucks that keeps things humming.
The pride of the military is the aircraft carrier. We have 11 of them floating around today. There’s good reason to believe these ships, with their monster offensive capability might come in handy, so for that reason, and the good of the economy, we should build some more. These babies cost $12B:
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