[ameliaquining]

> This gives a rough ballpark for the amount of energy they are willing to invest into major strategic advancements.

I'd say, rather, that it gives a rough ballpark of how much the government was willing to invest in the 1940s, at the peak of its ability and willingness to take on projects of incredible scope. There was still a fair amount of this for a few decades after that, but not since the 70s. See https://rationalconspiracy.com/2012/06/03/why-doesnt-our-gov... for one person's take on this (though you don't have to go as far as she does, I think, to establish that applying Manhattan Project numbers to anything going on today will result in an overestimate).