How come whenVeterans Benefits $'s and Military/National Defense $'s are listed as separate, in both comics:
And actual websites: http://www.whitehouse.gov/2011-taxreceipt
"National Defense 24.9%"
"Veterans Benefits 4.5%"
When people are recruited into military (National Defense), they are promised benefits (Veteran's Benefits), or am I wrong? Don't they go hand-and-hand?
I just see it as some kind of an accounting trick, but I don't get it. Is it just to make the number look smaller? National Defense is anyway the highest % that we pay for anything (according to the government website I linked).
Why wouldn't those 24.9% and 4.5% just get reported as 29.4%?
Or are those really two different things? (I guess veterans are no longer serving, but seems like budget for military should include the benefits promised for retirement)