Post

After I recently read a book that simply listed the GDP of a particular country (Kyrgyzstan) and soon after read something about a bill being passed through congress (I forget which one) I have developed the unfortunate habit of comparing our spending on this or that thing to what country's GDP it equals. It's disturbing.

A few examples:
- the new IRS budget = entire economic output of Bosnia (#114)
- the entire IRA bill recently passed (noting it is 10 yrs worth of spending) = entire economic output of Belgium (#24)
- the new CHIPS bill = entire economic output of Chile (#41)
- total of improper payments by the US government from 2021 = Chile again.
- DoD budget = entire economic output of Saudi Arabia (#19) + a lot more
- entire federal budget = entire economic output of Japan (#3)
- total for the various 'covid relief' bills = Japan again, plus a lots more