The more things change, the more they stay the same

Mencken didn't say this, but he could have.

Endless money forms the sinews of war. -Marcus Tullius Cicero,
statesman, orator, writer (106-43 BCE)

Permalink: http://wordsmith.org/words/aliterate.html

Here's from a story in The Washington Post, April 2006:
"War-related investment costs have more than tripled since 2003, from $7 billion to $24 billion, as money has been spent on armored vehicles, radios, sensors and night-vision goggles, as well as on equipment for reorganized Army and Marine Corps units."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/26/AR2006042601601.html