16 Military Spending Facts That Will Blow Your Mind

As the economy has tanked, the banks have been bailed out, and America lost its jobs, the defense budget continues to grow. For the past 13 years U.S. military spending has increased 114 percent. That's 8 percent higher than at the height of Reagan's presidency and the Cold War. The money is used to buying sophisticated weapons that often don't make it into production, and when the do they're expensive to maintain. The U.S. must spend a full 1 percent of its GDP just to maintain its arsenal. Insidermonkey experts made a list of 16 Military Spending Facts That Will Blow Your Mind.

Military spending accounts for a lion’s share of the U.S’ discretionary spending, at 54%. In comparison, education and healthcare only get a 6% allocation each, while energy and science spending get only a 3% allocation. Veteran’s benefits, which should ideally be included in the military budget, gets a whopping $65 billion allocation, making it 4th-largest spending item. Large U.S defense manufacturers produce a wide variety of tanks, missiles, assault rifles, bombers, surveillance aircraft and electronic systems, which are exported to U.S allies around the world.