[pjc50]

Very important question: are pensions counted as "spending" in the breakout of federal/local/state spending? Because if they are then the number will inevitably go up as life expectancy beyond pension age increases.

I'm slightly surprised to see that the War On Terror didn't register as a visible discontinuity on the graph, even as a smaller one compared to WW2. I suppose the money would have been spent on the military anyway.