This article seems to be saying war damages the economy. The 90's were great. Rooney the rube also raises the bogus spectre of bloated military spending. Whenever this guy quotes statistics about things I know about he invariably distorts them. As a percent of GDP the US actually spends far less than many third world countries even if you rule out the totally abberational NK which was left off this list. Most western European countries spend about 2% (France 2.6, UK 2.4) we spend 3.3% higher than any NATO allies but Greece and Turkey. Germany and Japan spend lower amounts due to traditions since WW2. Our military is so far ahead of everyone else's primarily because our GDP is by far the largest not because we spend an outrageous portion of it on the military. A lot of officers do strategic jobs which do not directly entail giving orders to masses of troups below them. What do you think the ratio of salaried to hourly workers in industry looks like? It's a similar division of labor and I'd be surprised if the ratio was even 50% higher in the military.

Regards,
Mark