This shows how much of a sinkhole the Iraq war has become: the US is spending more money than at any time since WWII (including during previous wars such as Korea, Vietnam and the Reagan Presidency - nice touch there in the labelling by the Financial Times where this comes from).
For this:
Of course, as a fraction of US GDP, this is not quite yet the record, as the country's real GDP has grown during the period, but if you compare that budget to something equally tangible, the median wage of US male workers, it means that the US military budget is the highest in terms of a multiple of median wages since at least the 50s:
Military budget, as a multiple of median wage:
In 1959, 12 million
In 1968, 13 million (at the height of that first "surge")
In 1978, 7.5 million
In 1988, 12 million
In 1998, 8 million
In 2005, 13 million
With the results we know today.
You realize the number of people that would have died in vian if we stopped now?
But that's the work of 13 million Americans - the equivalent of close to 20% of the male work force - which is being wasted right now. Of course, it is not quite wasted for everyone.