should get that. it inches up. the disparity between ceos and workers. there s a second phenomenon as well. people who are not ceos of public companies and people on wall street whose pay has gone up tramatically. it s a tungs of a series of things. the tax cuts that favor the rich and allow them to have more money. it s a new philosophy or theory called the win or take all society. in every profession, the best people has opened the gap of the pay of the average person. it s the function of an economy becoming more competitive. the bottom line, we have more incoming equality in this country than anywhere in western europe. we are in the league of emerging companies that have this problem as well. the one group we don t talk about in terms of why this
you are seeing a war weariness. the trauma of 9/11 after the killing of osama bin laden. a real opening for president obama to say to his generals, no. enough. we have to find a way out of the wars. they are taking lives. we can t afford to give anymore and find a different way. sure, there s an isolationism. listen to mayor tony villaraigosa was saying. bring the money home to reinvest in our cities. $2 billion a week. $2 billion a week. we are spending $2 billion a week in afghanistan for a war, again, we have people around this table. nobody can ever tell us whether they are in the government or out of the government why we need to stay in afghanistan for five to ten years.
slower drawdowns. i think president obama is going to draw down. i think the debate inside the republican party is going to move to the left liberal. those who want an end to the war and national security establishment. president obama needs to be pushed. no president is going to do it without the political space. i think he has it now. i think on the economy. the republicans, what they are offering gives snake oil a bad name. on that front, you can t delink war and the economy. i want to make a comment. if we take $2 billion off the table from afghanistan, in all honesty, that money is not going to the mayors of this country. meaning the debate is going to shift. i m not suggesting we stay at all. there s a reality to frame the discussion if the money goes from one pocket to the other. it is revenue.
awe stairty and what we need to do to get our house together and second because we live in a global economy. it has been greece and the euro. what i thought i would do is give a quick run through the recent history of greece since the euro came in. greece was able to borrow money. they went on something of a bender, maybe a little bit like when willie s friends go into a bar at happy hour. you never have to pay your losses. so, wages for government workers went up 30% in the late 2000 period, compared to 3% for people in the u.s. they were retiring with 96% pensions relative to their incomes. retirement age dropped. they retired as low as 50. a hairdresser was deemed to be a hazardous profession.
money going from one pocket to another. it doesn t mean we are going to get it. it s worth saying. there is the beginning of a transition to an economy which invests. there are great studies. robert did studies showing a dollar invested in education produces many more jobs than in the defense industry. it s the beginning of rethinking the way our economy is restructured. post cold war, then 9/11. we never had the national discussion to rethink. let me explain it to you. i hear what you are saying andrew, but listen to me. it comes from the same pot. if you are a mayor in los angeles or kansas or georgia, you understand the money is not coming to you anymore. the money is not coming to you because we are $15 trillion in debt. we are spending way too much money and the defense industry,