Actually I have done the math.  And yours has some errors. At $1.2 trillion, Social Security is the largest budget item. At $998 billion, Medicare/Medicaid is second.  Military spending comes in third at $598 billion.  Source is the congressional budget office and these numbers are 2015. Not sure if 2016 final tallies are up yet.  Your point is still valid even with the fuzzy math.  We spend a lot of money on wars.  But we actually do spend more on health than on the military.  Now, I do understand that SS and Medicare/Medicaid are funded as "mandatory" spending and not funded with the "income tax".  But at $1.1 trillion for discretionary spending (mostly funded by the income tax), the military is roughly half when those two programs are excluded.  So I'm not sure how you calculated the "almost 100%" number.