Picking out examples of wasteful military spending is too easy, like telling someone who lives in a rubbish dump that his home needs a tidy. Trying to cut the defence budget, however, tends to be as fruitful as handing that same man a broom. The effect of government money flowing through towns and industries across the US has created a political inertia that is hard to challenge. Aside from a short period after the Soviet Union dissolved, absolute levels of defence spending have trended persistently upwards.

So should the listed arms makers be relaxed about the imminent Democratic presidency? There will be heavy demands on the federal budget in the near future from likely tax cuts and bail-outs. However, a rapid reduction of force levels in Iraq should see overall military spending fall, easing pressure to find cuts from procurement budgets. And it will take at least two years after a withdrawal to fully reset and repair equipment. President-elect Obama also appears to favour sticking with plans to expand the size of the army up to 2011.