2 ms·
In professional analyses? Certainly. During election campaigns quoting the numbers spent on budget items? Almost never. I guess I did a poor job explaining
by phil21 9y ago
In professional analyses? Certainly. During election campaigns quoting the numbers spent on budget items? Almost never.
I guess I did a poor job explaining what I meant. If you ask the common citizen what our welfare spending is, they will quote you back the number mentioned by CNN or Fox on the news. Those numbers rarely include anything but the headline budget numbers, and do not delve into items such as tax credits before any transfer payments are made.
- dragonwriter 9y ago> In professional analyses? Certainly. During election campaigns quoting the numbers spent on budget items? Almost never. Most of the numbers cited in election campaigns (if they aren't just made up and pulled from thin air, which also happens; but,for those, the allocation of real spending doesn't really matter) come directly from professional analyses, which as you acknowledge do include them.
- phil21 9y agoFair enough, we're not mid-cycle so I don't have any numbers to readily double check easily. I still cannot recall a single instance of those numbers including EITC when quoted during election cycles, but I'll certainly concede the point and pay closer attention. I've noticed when the numbers do include them in reports and such, because it's so amazing to me someone is actually showing the data honestly in those cases.