Ramblings

A number of people on Facebook are copy and pasting a report that says the proposed pay increase for active duty military personnel for 2011 is 1.4%.

“President Obama has proposed a 1.4% pay increase for active duty military in 2011. This is THE LOWEST SINCE 1973! Nice to know that during a time of rampant inflation, while war is fought in 2 theatres, our men and women in uniform get A LOWER PAY INCREASE THAN WELFARE RECIPIENTS. [Please repost if you support our troops.]”

Zimbabwe $100 trillion bill

While that number seems to be valid from what I can find at this point, a claim is made that we’re currently experiencing “rampant inflation”. I’d appreciate it if someone backed that up with some numbers. The Consumer Price Index for the United States is the usual reference point. To see how inflation is calculated, as well as a ton more information on the subject, start with the Wikipedia article on inflation. If you really want to see rampant inflation, take a look at the article on Hyperinflation.

Whether a 1.4% pay increase is appropriate or not, I’ll leave up to each of you to decide. Just keep in mind those of us who have not seen a pay raise for 2010, much less the 3.4% the military saw. A raise, no matter how small, is always preferred over no raise.

Oh yeah, the subtle “please repost if you support our troops” is pretty disingenuous too.