During the Napoleonic wars Britain bankrolled many of France´s opponents on the continent. This economic power enabled Britain to in the long run win and thus end up with (among other things) a lot of possesions in India.
And although I disagree with the notion that GDP measures national wealth, I agree that a large GDP enables a big army. As GDP measures taxable transactions, it gives a hint of how large spendings a government can get going, among those spendings military spendings. Of course this only really applies to our modern day states with high-tech expensive weapons.
In roman time a main portion of wages was pay in land on retirement, thus creating a drive to conquer more land. Not that that was the only force pushing for expansion... A vote for PES is a vote for EPP! A vote for EPP is a vote for PES! Support the coalition, vote EPP-PES in 2009!
To clarify, in that paragraph I was responding to this statement by technopolitan:
Put more bluntly and focused on GDP: greater national wealth enables greater military power.
And I also made a rather convoluted reference to a previous discussion where I stated my answers to Migerus socratic questions as:
1. What does GDP measure? Tax base. 2. Why does it need to grow? To enable politicians to keep their promises, wheter in expanding services but not increasing taxes or lowering tax percentages while keeping services constant. Or both. Few run on a platform of increased taxes and lowered services. Or on a reality-based platform where you need to pay for what you eat. Fiscal conservative is just a oppostion position, when in power you need to keep promises. 3. Does the need for GDP growth outweigh any other policy goal? Policy is set by politicians right? Then - almost always - yes.
2. Why does it need to grow? To enable politicians to keep their promises, wheter in expanding services but not increasing taxes or lowering tax percentages while keeping services constant. Or both. Few run on a platform of increased taxes and lowered services. Or on a reality-based platform where you need to pay for what you eat. Fiscal conservative is just a oppostion position, when in power you need to keep promises.
3. Does the need for GDP growth outweigh any other policy goal? Policy is set by politicians right? Then - almost always - yes.
