Global Intifada

“In the United States war-related expenditures have constituted the dominant sector of the federal budget throughout our history. Omitting the years of the Second World War and the post-war period, where the record is so well known, a tabulation of federal expenditures by decade, from 1800 to 1939, for army, navy, veteran’s compensations and pensions, and interest on the debt - prior to the New Deal federal debt incurred was primarily a result of war spending - shows that except for one decade at least 54% of federal expenditures were for military activities or preparations during the decade or to meet obligations arising from previous military activity. The one exception was the decade of the Great Depression (1930 to 1939) when the percentage dropped to somewhat below 40 percent. In seven of the fourteen decades the war-related share of the federal budget was 70% or more.”

(p 151-152 of “Modern Capitalism and the American Drive for Empire” by Harry Magdoff, published in “The Economic Causes of Imperialism)

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