Context

Numbers are important.  But even more important is figuring out what those numbers mean. 

Say for example you see a statistic saying that US military spending is some huge amount greater than the military spending of say, China.  That may be true, is true actually, but what does it buy us.  Given that materials and manpower are substantially more expensive here in the good old USA, turns out that our military isn't actually as much stronger than our spending would seem to indicate.  Good to know. 

Proper context for numbers and statistics is important to understand the true amount of money the US has spent in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Yes, we have spent a lot of money.  According to THIS ARTICLE, total federal spending over the entire course of military operations in I&A has amounted to about 4.4% of total federal spending during the same period of time. 

Context is extremely important.  Is 5% large or small?  $10,879,442?  No idea.  Context.