But it's not the entire story. Just because X dollars was spent on the military for example, how much of that X was actually put to good use? As a former employ

But it's not the entire story. Just because X dollars was spent on the military for example, how much of that X was actually put to good use? As a former employee of a military contractor, I can attest there are entire companies built around taking advantage of how inefficiently the government spends its money.