The Raw Story � Is America building a purely military economy? Industrial production down 20%.

Durable-goods shipments - a basic measure of industrial production - fell by more than 20 % during this recession, and would have declined further were it not for increased production of weapons."

In the past nine years, non-industrial production in the US has declined by some 19 %.

It took about four years for manufacturing to return to levels seen before the 2001 recession -- and all those gains were wiped out in the current recession

Military manufacturing is now 123 % greater than it was in 2000

The military now takes about 8 % of all durable goods, up from 3 percent in 2000.

The military budget for 2009, not including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is $651 billion, up 11 percent from the $583 billion spent on the military in 2008

The Iraq and Afghanistan wars are estimated, separately, to cost $150 billion per year.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/01/business/economy/01charts.html

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2009/07/31/business/20090801_CHARTS_GRAPHIC.html

The Raw Story � Is America building a purely military economy?