Paying the Costs of Competition
Chris, Melanie, and Zack discuss a recent article by Rosella Cappella Zielinski and Samuel Gerstle in the Texas National Security Review. Zielinski and Gerstle explain why the United States should fund the defense budget with higher taxes, not more debt, while conceding that this will be a tough sell for a country trying to maintain the status quo, as opposed to rising powers like China that are trying to upset it. Are they right? Must taxes be raised in the United States to pay for competition with China? If so, can the Biden administration and Congress craft a message that will resonate with the public? Or is there another way to produce the money that will go for long-term defense? Grievances for Jake Sullivan’s speech at the Brookings Institute, yet the latest sign of the Biden administration’s protectionist turn; NATO’s plan to expand to the Indo-Pacific; and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) for blocking military promotions. Shoutouts to the Australian government for their new Defence Strategic Review and a remembrance of Allen Gyngell, the noted Australian security expert, who recently passed away.
Episode Reading:
- Rosella Cappella Zielinski and Samuel Gerstle, “Paying the Defense Bill: Financing American and Chinese Geostrategic Competiton,” Texas National Security Review, Spring 2023
- Historical Income Tax Rates and Brackets, 1862-2021, Tax Foundation
- “NATO to open Japan office to enable Indo-Pacific consultation, Nikkei Asia reports,” Reuters, May 3, 2023
- David Pierson, “China’s Foreign Minister Meets U.S. Envoy and Urges Washington to Reflect,” The New York Times, May 8, 2023
- “Beyond the Washington Declaration: Prospects for the Future of Extended Deterrence,” Virtual Event, The Stimson Center, May 16, 2023
- Michael Waltz, Tweet from House Armed Services Committee hearing, April 27, 2023.
- National Defense Strategic Review 2023, Government of Australia, May 2023.
- Rachel Looker, “Sen. Tuberville Blocking Military Nominees Turns Them into ‘Political Pawns’: Former Defense Secretaries,” USA Today, May 4, 2023.
- Baxter Oliphant, “Top Tax Frustrations for Americans: The Feeling that Some Corporations, Wealthy People Don’t Pay Fair Share,” Gallup, April 7, 2023.
- Allies and Geopolitical Competition in the Indo-Pacific Region, event at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, May 4, 2023.
- Nicholas Megaw and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, “Western Companies Warn of Hit from China’s Slow Recovery,” Financial Times, May 7, 2023.
- Darren Lim, “Allan Gyngell and ‘Australia in the World’,” Australian Institute of International Affairs, May 5, 2023,.
- Jake Sullivan, “Remarks on Renewing American Economic Leadership at the Brookings Institution,” The White House, April 27, 2023.
- Luis Simón and Zack Cooper, “Rethinking Tradeoffs Between Europe and the Indo-Pacific,” War on the Rocks, May 9, 2023.
- “The Washington Declaration,” The White House, April 26, 2023.
