If you want to wage expensive wars and need to pay for it, you have two basic options: squeeze your people, or squeeze somebody else's people.
It doesn't matter what your political slant is or even your economic philosophy. You don't even have to be constrained by your own economy. And even if you were, "your economy" might be so wound-up in the economies of other nations that those other nations end up supplementing your economy enough to pay for the war. Or you can just pillage. In any case, the money always comes from the people; you just have to figure out which people that ended up being.
There is of course the third option: "don't pay for it". In that case, your government (or rulers) are generally doomed, because there is always somebody with money who will see your faltering state as a juicy investment or acquisition. We seem to be in a "peaceful period", as countries like Venezuela still haven't been snapped up; but rest assured that somebody (cough China cough) will be by eventually to pick it up and give it a new coat of paint.
It doesn't matter what your political slant is or even your economic philosophy. You don't even have to be constrained by your own economy. And even if you were, "your economy" might be so wound-up in the economies of other nations that those other nations end up supplementing your economy enough to pay for the war. Or you can just pillage. In any case, the money always comes from the people; you just have to figure out which people that ended up being.
There is of course the third option: "don't pay for it". In that case, your government (or rulers) are generally doomed, because there is always somebody with money who will see your faltering state as a juicy investment or acquisition. We seem to be in a "peaceful period", as countries like Venezuela still haven't been snapped up; but rest assured that somebody (cough China cough) will be by eventually to pick it up and give it a new coat of paint.