The proportion of GDP spent on the military is high relative to other contemporary peaceful countries, but it's tiny relative to countries involved in significant wars.
I wonder what it is relative to the Cold War.
Or is this a dramatic way of expressing something else? Are we looking for drama, caught up in it? That the mechanism of unnecessary wars.
According to this chart[0], US military spending as a percentage of GDP is pretty close to an all-time low. Sadly doesn't seem to include data covering WWII or Korea, though.
I imagine the notable peaks might be related to:
* '62 Cuban missile crisis (cold war)
* '67 Vietnam (cold war)
* '82, '86 "New Cold War"[1]
* '05, '11 Post-9/11 wars
But mostly downward after '91.
Sadly this chart (Military expenditure (% of general government expenditure)) seems to be empty, but I'm sure there's data on it somewhere.
[0]: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/MS.MIL.XPND.GD.ZS?locat... [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#US_and_USSR_military_... [2]: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/MS.MIL.XPND.ZS?location...