General laments battle for military dollars

WASHINGTON – Americans spent as much on “plastic Santa Clauses,” tinsel and other holiday purchases last year as they will for defense in the coming year, the Army’s top general said Wednesday, lamenting complaints about the military’s budget requests.

Gen. Peter Schoomaker, the Army chief of staff, told reporters: “I just don’t understand. … What’s the problem?”

Schoomaker said the defense budget the Bush administration requested for the fiscal year starting in October – nearly $440 billion – plus the costs of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, is 3.9 percent of the nation’s nearly $13 trillion overall economy.

During World War II, military expenditures accounted for more than one-third of the economy, he said, calling today’s piece of the pie the “lowest percent … that we’ve ever spent in wartime.”

“Here’s what is amazing to me. … What do you think we spent on plastic Santa Clauses and tinsel and all this stuff for Christmas last year … the holidays?” Schoomaker asked during a meeting with reporters. “The answer is $438.5 billion, roughly equivalent to the defense budget.”

The general said he got the figure on Christmas spending from a newspaper clipping quoting the National Retail Association.

The actual number from the National Retail Federation was a few billion less – $435.3 billion – and it was a projection for “winter holidays,” meaning it included Thanksgiving turkeys and other seasonal spending, said federation spokeswoman Kathy Grannis.

Even so, the general’s point was clear: America is a rich country, and he thinks it needs to spend more on defense.