Tanks vs. Plastic Santas

Well, here's an interesting comparison: Gen. Peter Schoomaker, the Army's chief of staff, says Americans spent as much on "plastic Santa Clauses and tinsel and all this stuff for Christmas last year" as they did on the Defense budget for the entire year. Military spending, he told reporters, is only 3.9 percent of the nation's nearly $13 trillion overall economy--the lowest level ever in wartime.