When talking about defense, keep in mind that about 70% to 80% of defense contracts are over budget and/or behind schedule. Also, it costs about $1million per soldier per year for Afghan. So, since most contracts awarded cost maybe 30-50% more, on a per unit deleivered basis, than the original awarded cost basis, the defense budget has to keep growing to keep these programs going. Also, with the surge in Afghan, more money is spent.
If anyone did an analysis, I'm sure they would find that at least 25% of all federal contract spending was for cost overruns on a per unit basis, ie waste.