Raw Data: Military Spending Has Been Remarkably Flat Over the Past 50 Years

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Autocratic forces are ascendant.

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Autocratic forces are ascendant in America. But truth-telling independent media is one remaining bulwark against the unrestrained exercise of power. At a time when billionaire owners of corporate media are making accommodations to political leaders, our nonprofit newsroom cannot be bought or broken. Please stand with us.

I don’t have any special reason for posting this except that Congress is getting ready to vote on an override of Donald Trump’s veto of the annual defense spending bill. So here is defense spending over the past 50 years:

It goes up and down during wars and peacetime, but ever since we came down from the Vietnam peak it’s remarkable how steady it’s been. The American populace seems willing to spend about $2000 each for defense, and that changes only modestly and temporarily over time.