A little less actually Peter – and it should be remembered that this war cost is spread out over several years – so it’s really just over 1 % of an annual GDP. Overall, defense spending has been steadily declining vs. GDP since the mid-80’s.

Economic historian Niall Ferguson, in his book Colossus: The Price of America’s Empire, makes a powerful case for the relatively inexpensive cost of projecting American power in many ways in order to make us, our allies, and the global systems we depend on more secure.