Perspective – Government Spending

Leonardo da Vinci once said:

“Anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to authority is not using his intelligence he is just using his memory”

I am also reminded of a graffiti message that was spray painted on Parliament after the election of Margaret Thatcher:

“No matter who you vote for the government still gets in.”

I am going to present some facts to you to hopefully give you some perspective and perhaps open your eyes to some very basic realities:

In 2008 the World Expenditures on Military were $1.47 Trillion USD

The Top 10 Military Expenditures as a percentage of GDP and then in USD:

• Saudi Arabia                                     10%                        ‘08 – $31B
• United States of America              3.9%                        ’10 – $663.7B
• Russian Federation                        3.9%                         ’10 – $36B
• France                                                2.6%                         ’10 – $47.4B
• India                                                   2.5%                         ’10 – $32B
• United Kingdom                             2.4%                          ’10 – $65.1B
• Italy                                                    1.8%                          ’08 – $40B
• Germany                                           1.5%                           ’08 – $45.9B
• Japan                                                0.8 %                         ’08 – $48.8B

Real Cost of the Iraq War to date:

• $695,000,000,000
• 4352 American Military Casualties
• Approximately 31,545 Wounded
• Approximately 1,339,771 Iraqi Civilians

Real Cost of Afghanistan War to date (only US spending):

• $230,000,000,000
• 1407 Coalition Causalities
• No reliable Civilian casualty number available

The United States spends almost 10% of its military budget on nuclear weapons – $52B –  According to the 1998 Human Development Report by the United Nations Development Program is roughly equal to the amount required globally for UNIVERSAL access to:

• Basic Education
• Basic Healthcare
• Adequate Food
• Clean Water
• Sewers

Education spending worldwide approximately $2.46 Trillion USD

Education spending as a percentage of GDP:

• United States of America        7%
• Saudi Arabia                              6.8%
• France                                         6.1%
• United Kingdom                       5.3%
• Italy                                              4.9%
• Germany & Japan                    4.6%
• China                                           4%
• Russian Federation                 3.5%
• India                                            3.2%

Healthcare spending worldwide approximately $4.1  Trillion (WHO) of which the United States accounts for almost $1.6 Trillion

Healthcare spending as a percentage of GDP according to the World Health Organization in 2006:

• United States of America        15.3%
• France                                          11.1%
• Germany                                      10.4%
• Italy                                               9%
• United Kingdom                        8.4%
• Japan                                            7.9%
• Russian Federation                  5.3%
• India                                             4.9%
• China                                            4.5%
• Saudi Arabia                               3.4%

According to 90’s estimates from the World Bank it would cost anywhere from $40 Billion to $60 Billion USD to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Gordon Brown believed that it would cost approximately $52 Billion or what the United States is poised to pay in the next twelve months to build and maintain its nuclear stockpile. Oxfam pegs the number to achieve the MDG’s at approximately $150 Billion a year with current funding at approximately $104 Billion.

The financial crisis has taken quite a toll on the globalized economy, international development budgets and people. According to International Monetary Fund from a staff report from June 9th when I was at the United Nations discussing the crisis, more than $18,000,000,000,000 has been directed towards recapitalizing the banks with another $21,000,000,000,000 is fiscal stimulus spend. Or to put it another way more than 100% of American GDP in 2008. Or another way:

Enough to pay for all the Millennium Development Goals

over 260 times

The next post is going to look at global corporation spending and personal consumption. Once we have some perspective I plan to look in detail at the Millennium Development Goals and why I have chosen the path I have in life related to my personal mission and where I choose to spend my time and resources.

Kofi Annan once said:

“To live is to choose. But to choose well, you must know who you are and what you stand for, where you want to go and why you want to get there.”

Be Inspired Today!

The New Currency
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