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In nominal terms, national defense consumption expenditures and gross investment was $793.8 billion in Q3 2009, a 113% increase over the same period in 2000, a decade long run of robust defense spending.
Now though, we may be seeing the early signs of a period of an oncoming contraction in defense spending with real expenditures registering only a tepid 2.2% increase on a year-over-year basis.
With the weak domestic economy and some military operations possibly nearing an end-game it will be interesting to watch the trend of this significant component of government spending over the next several years.