A long, infographic-laden Mother Jones explainer tries to make sense of the US's insanely gigantic military budget, which dwarfs all US spending save Social Security. America's military owns more than 170 golf courses and manages enough land to host 93 Los Angeleses, and the Afghan/Iraq invasions have no meaningful peace dividend — they're a permanent upward ratchet on the military budget.
The Pentagon employs 3 million people, 800,000 more than Walmart.
The Pentagon's 2012 budget was 47 percent bigger than Walmart's.
Serving 9.6 million people, the Pentagon and Veterans Administration together constitute the nation's largest healthcare provider.
70 percent of the value of the federal government's $1.8 trillion in property, land, and equipment belongs to the Pentagon.
Los Angeles could fit into the land managed by the Pentagon 93 times. The Army uses more than twice as much building space as all the offices in New York City.
The Pentagon holds more than 80 percent of the federal government's inventories, including $6.8 billion of excess, obsolete, or unserviceable stuff.
The Pentagon operates more than more than 170 golf courses worldwide.
The Budget Deal Is a Big Win for the Pentagon
(Thanks, Mike!)
