Where the Money Goes

Judd Legum, an independent journalist who writes a newsletter called Popular Information, recently posted a thread on Twitter about a Brown University study on defense spending. It's one of those things that you sort of know in a way, but you forget in the midst of everything else that's going on... plus it's also probably growing. 

There are about 3.5 million people who work for the federal government.

72% of all federal workers are "defense-related..."

In contrast,

...the Department of Health and Human Services employs 4% of federal civilian workers. The State Department, tasked with using diplomacy to avert wars, employs 1%.

Despite that high percentage of federal employees, more than half of the annual $850 billion defense budget goes to military contractors, who are spread out into every congressional district. And that extreme amount of spending is recent:

Since 2015, the U.S. has added more than $300 billion to annual defense spending. That is equivalent to the annual cost of universal pre-K, 2 years of free community college for every HS graduate, and health insurance for every uninsured American — combined.

That's jump occurred over only eight years... and if my math is correct, it was more than a 50% increase. In just eight years.

This graphic from the Brown study shows how it works:

(Click to enlarge for better readability.)

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Here's the link to Legum's full post on Popular Information and  the Brown University study.