Quote Originally Posted by AmericanPride View Post
That reveals a large part of the problem. WWII engaged the better part of America's manpower and industrial output but still only was about half the cost of the GWOT. WWII was fought against two major industrial powers whereas Iraq and Afghanistan are considered "small" wars. WWII set the foundations for a post-war economic boom. Yet the GWOT has significantly contributed to the financial emergency facing this country. This is because of the gross inefficiencies of the defense economy; particularly the high financial inputs and the low acquisition and mission outputs. This trend is not sustainable, which is why the SECDEF has already acknowledged the downgrade of America's military capabilities to now be only able to fight one major theater war at a time. We could barely sustain two "small" wars. The continued reduction in military capabilities is a direct result of poor financial management.
I think you are still missing my point. Your numbers are absolute rather than comparative. GWOT may have cost more than WWII in terms of total dollars spent, but I doubt the the same can be said in terms of percentage of dollars available to be spent.

BTW, both GWOT campaigns were/are fought in a theater farther from the US than either of the two major WWII theaters. Thus, cost to get stuff to the fight is higher due to the distances involved. I submit that the maintenance support needs of the GWOT forces are significantly greater due to the more advanced sophistication of the weapons systems currently in use compared to those in use during WWII--chewing gum and a piece of aluminum foil might be able to patch the bullet holes in a P51 that had rolled off the assembly line 6 months prior--not so easy to maintain an F16 that has been flying for 10 years or more already. I don't know how much of the GWOT costs are due to little more than fair wear and tear on an aging fleet of equipment, but I bet it is rather significant.

High OPTEMPO also has a big impact on the stuff one uses. I doubt the WWII OPTEMPO was ever anything close to that of our GWOT forces (with the possible exception of transportation used to move supplies forward across Western Europe from July 44-Dec 44, at which point the advanced slowed again, allowing time for rest and refit of much of the support infrastructure while the Bulge was reduced and Allied forces figured out how to slug through the West Wall and get across the Rhine).

America today could sustain a much larger war effort, given the political will to do so. WWII saw that will manifested. GWOT, not so much--letting troops in uniform board planes ahead ogf the everyday vaction traveler doesn't come close to accepting rationing of sugar and gasoline by the folks at home. Cutting payroll taxes while increasing the amount of time one can draw unemployment compensation is rather at odds with sustaining any kind of increase in spending by the federal government on other than entitlement-like programs.