Thread by @gladstein

Some numbers that shocked me as I researched my new essay on war finance and monetary policy:

$1 trillion: amount Americans have paid on *interest alone* on money borrowed to fight the post-9/11 wars

$6.5T: amount projected owed by 2050

$6T: projected 2022 US federal budget

30: percent of WWI spending financed by taxes

50: percent of WWII spending financed by taxes

100: percent of Korean War spending financed by taxes

0: percent of Iraq and Afghanistan war spending financed by taxes

20%: average decrease in public popularity in a war fought with higher taxes

0: number of new war taxes in the US since 1968

8: number of years the American war called "Operation Inherent Resolve" has been active in the Middle East, costing tens of billions

1: time that war finance was discussed in 20 congressional fiscal hearings between 2001 and 2017 regarding America's conflicts abroad

70: percent of the time war finance was discussed in such hearings during the Vietnam era

$2.02T: amount spent as of 2020 on the post-9/11 wars

90: percent of Iraq and Afghanistan spending paid for by emergency bills exempt from spending caps and without requirements to offset cuts elsewhere in the budget

35 and 32: percentages of Korea and Vietnam War spending paid for in the same way

$8.9 trillion: amount of US debt and mortgage-backed securities the Federal Reserve has purchased since 2008

$4.7 million: amount of assets the Fed has purchased *per minute* since March 2020

9.85%: Federal Funds rate in 1989

0.08%: Federal Funds rate today

8.6%: Yield on a 2-year treasury in 1989

1.5%: Yield on a 2-year treasury today

$300 billion: amount that the US government would need to pay in additional interest for each 1% hike in rates

Unknown: yield on a 2-year Treasury if the Federal Reserve had bought $0, and not nearly $9 trillion, of securities since 2008

23: percent of American household wealth the 1% held in 1990

32: percent of American household wealth the 1% holds today

88.9: percent of stocks and mutual funds owned by the wealthiest 10% of Americans

40: percent of S&P total return since 2011 resulting from stock buybacks

130%: America's debt-to-GDP ratio today

50: number of governments that have defaulted out of a total of 51 whose debt has broken above 130% of GDP since 1800

60: approximate percentage of US debt owned by foreigners before the Great Financial Crisis

40: approximate percentage of US debt owned by foreigners today

0: number of times the US government's 2011 final report on the Great Financial Crisis mentions the words Iraq or Afghanistan

0: number of times the Modern Monetary Theory manifesto "The Deficit Myth" mentions the words Iraq or Afghanistan

250: years ago that Adam Smith said borrowing for war was a bad idea

2,000: years ago that Cicero said "nervi belli pecunia infinita": the sinews of war are infinite money

Here's my full essay, "The Invisible Cost of War in the Age of Quantitative Easing"

Join me and special guests on a @BitcoinMagazine spaces to discuss these topics Monday March 7 at 4pm ET!

bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/how-th…