The Intelligence Daily puts the national defense budget in perspective. It is expected to hit almost $1 Trillion dollars in 2010:
The U.S. spends more for war annually than all state governments combined spend for the health, education, welfare, and safety of 308 million Americans.
Economist Joseph Stiglitz and finance authority Linda Bilmes offered these statistics in their book, The Three Trillion Dollar War:
“The Pentagon’s budget has increased by more than $600 billion, cumulatively, since we invaded Iraq.” With its 1,000 bases in the U.S. and another 800 bases globally, the U.S. truly has become a “Warfare State.” Today, military-related products account for about one-fourth of total U.S. GDP. This includes 10,000 nuclear weapons. Indeed, the U.S. has lavished $5.5 trillion just on nukes over the past 70 years.
