The correct number for "defense" is 16-20% or so depending on how you count veterans' benefits. But again, it's worth asking yourself how much of that your nei

The correct number for "defense" is 16-20% or so depending on how you count veterans' benefits. But again, it's worth asking yourself how much of that your neighbor is effectively allocating to "defense" and how much to "foreign aid". Because the US military sure doesn't spend that much time actually defending the US recently... The "welfare" vs "social security/medicare" numbers there are off, of course (just about backwards, though if you count Medicaid as "welfare" that puts an 11% floor on the "welfare" number right there).