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central_va: "Reference? "

Sorry, here it is.
It says the Essex class carriers cost $68 to $78 million in 1942, which was supposedly equal to $1 billion today.

However, today's economy & money are vastly different from 1942, and a more accurate evaluation can be found here.

It shows several different methods for calculating today's worth, but I think only the largest number ($8 billion) really measures the relative economic impact of building such ships.

For Nimitz class carriers, the price is listed here as $4.5 billion.
For the new Ford class, the price is listed here as $10.4 billion.

Therefore, I argue that today's carriers are roughly the same economic burden as were the big Essex class of WWII.
Again: the big difference is not so much the unit cost, but the fact that compared to 40% of GDP in WWII, today's defense budget is closer to 3%, for actual military spending, as opposed to related expenses like intelligence.

Essex class:

Ford class:

central_va: "Reference?"

By the way, I should mention than military spending as a percent of gdp can be calculated any number of ways, and different methods produce different results.
So, some results for today's & projected spending approach 5%, which in overall terms sounds like a lot.
True spending of 5%, in today's world represents every general & admiral's wet dream for the future.
It would definitely solve many excruciating choices they have to make as things now stand.

But the real number, I've argued, is closer to 3%, and that can be verified here.
The International Institute for Strategic Studies puts US military spending at 3%.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute puts US military spending at 3.5%.

I think the 3% estimate is closer to reality, especially because it uses the same methodology as used for historical numbers such as those in WWII, Korea, Vietnam, etc.