3 ms·

exactly how much is wages of the total spend?

by kashkhan 9y ago

gozur88 9y ago
I would think nearly everything, either uniform military or contractor employee. What else is there?
- kashkhan 9y ago
  $139B out of $583B is salaries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States#Budget_request_for_FY2018 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_...
  - gozur88 9y ago
    But that's sort of irrelevant, isn't it? When the USAF buys an F-35, the cost of the F-35 is almost entirely domestic US labor, even though on the military budget it counts as equipment.
    - kashkhan 9y ago
      labor is a small component through and through. Most of the money goes to paying off capital. You can dd up all the salaries all the way through and they won't amount to more than 25% of the total.
      - gozur88 9y ago
        What do you mean, "paying off capital"? There's no way salaries amount to less than about 90% of the total.
        kashkhan 9y ago
        have you ever thought where return on investment/capital comes from? You can hire 100 people to make 100,000 needles a day by hand tools or instead build a $200,000 plant that make 10 million needles a day with three guys operating the machines. In both cases the profit goes to the plant owner, while in the second the cost of labor will be less than 3% of the receipts.
        gozur88 9y ago
        3%? No. That's not even close. And you're leaving out indirect labor - people got paid to build everything you buy.
        kashkhan 9y ago
        how much labor does capital need to produce returns? the wages in economy are well documented. as well as returns on capital. Actual data matters. Don't take my word for it. read up an actual economist. http://voxeu.org/article/reducing-inequality-deconcentrating-capital#.WVnrmjhD6hQ.twitter http://voxeu.org/article/reducing-inequality-deconcentrating... The rich aren't rich because they put in more labor and got more salaries.
        gozur88 9y ago
        This doesn't support your point at all. It's only tangentially related.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]

exactly how much is wages of the total spend?

gozur88 9y ago

I would think nearly everything, either uniform military or contractor employee. What else is there?

kashkhan 9y ago
$139B out of $583B is salaries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States#Budget_request_for_FY2018 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_...
- gozur88 9y ago
  But that's sort of irrelevant, isn't it? When the USAF buys an F-35, the cost of the F-35 is almost entirely domestic US labor, even though on the military budget it counts as equipment.
  - kashkhan 9y ago
    labor is a small component through and through. Most of the money goes to paying off capital. You can dd up all the salaries all the way through and they won't amount to more than 25% of the total.
    - gozur88 9y ago
      What do you mean, "paying off capital"? There's no way salaries amount to less than about 90% of the total.
      - kashkhan 9y ago
        have you ever thought where return on investment/capital comes from? You can hire 100 people to make 100,000 needles a day by hand tools or instead build a $200,000 plant that make 10 million needles a day with three guys operating the machines. In both cases the profit goes to the plant owner, while in the second the cost of labor will be less than 3% of the receipts.
        gozur88 9y ago
        3%? No. That's not even close. And you're leaving out indirect labor - people got paid to build everything you buy.
        kashkhan 9y ago
        how much labor does capital need to produce returns? the wages in economy are well documented. as well as returns on capital. Actual data matters. Don't take my word for it. read up an actual economist. http://voxeu.org/article/reducing-inequality-deconcentrating-capital#.WVnrmjhD6hQ.twitter http://voxeu.org/article/reducing-inequality-deconcentrating... The rich aren't rich because they put in more labor and got more salaries.
        gozur88 9y ago
        This doesn't support your point at all. It's only tangentially related.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]