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That sounds about right. According to the Center on Budget and Public Policy [0], in the 2016 federal budget, this was spending for each: 24% = Social Secur

That sounds about right. According to the Center on Budget and Public Policy [0], in the 2016 federal budget, this was spending for each: 24% = Social Security 26% = Medicare/Medicaid/CHIP/Affordable Care Act 9% = Other Safety Net programs ex-SS/Medicare 8% = Benefits for federal retirees + veterans That's 67% right there. Other significant spending: 16% = Defense 6% = Interest on debt 2% = Transportation/Infrastructure 2% = Education 2% = Science and medical research The federal government took in $3.3 trillion and spent $3.9 trillion, so $0.6 trillion borrowed, which is almost our entire defense budget. To balance the budget, you'd need to take out 15 percentage points from the categories above, or increases taxes by ~$4,600 per US household (or a combination of the two). [0] https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-budget/policy-basics-where-do-our-federal-tax-dollars-go https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-budget/policy-basics-w...

murftown 9y ago
OK, but isn't it true that a lot of Defense spending is categorized differently and doesn't show up on the budget?
- Gargoyle 9y ago
  When you ask for a source and someone provides it, any further rebuttals on your part really should include a source of your own.
  - murftown 9y ago
    Reasonable request. I thought that by starting with "isn't it true" I was implying that I didn't know. Also, the person who provided the source was someone else, so if you're asking for a source re my question, perhaps someone will provide it. In any case your poke got me wondering and doing a bit of research.
    - mistermann 9y ago
      I must admit, those numbers seem dramatically out of line with my intuition as well. If I was a betting man I'd say there's a bit more to the story, but then the source (https://www.cbpp.org/about/mission-history https://www.cbpp.org/about/mission-history) seems fairly left leaning so if there was any bending of the truth I'd expect it in the other direction. Perhaps the reason this feels off is because it's the government budget, which is a subset of the overall economy obviously. And, a lot of the dollars spent here are going back into corporations, for varying levels of return on the dollar I'm sure. I think this is why the numbers sound so great/generous, but don't match reality when you look out the window, watch the news, or read the newspaper.
- JauntTrooper 9y ago
  You may be thinking of how Congress funds the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They do indeed fall outside of the ‘planned’ DoD budget, even though we’ve been at war for 17+ years. They’re funded by special appropriations bills. This 16% ($605 billion) number includes $74 billion in a special Overseas Contingency Operations bill for Afghanistan. Alternatively, you may also be thinking of the DoD ‘black budget’, which is classified. That is included in the budget, but it’s not itemized or described in any way to keep what it’s spent on a secret. It’s typically around $65 billion.
hedora 9y ago
I never understood why social security counts as “spending”. We all are forced to put money into a fund that mathematically cannot lose money unless life expectancy shoots way up. When we withdraw the money according to plan, the government is not “spending” it. The fact that congress borrows from the fund and doesn’t pay it back is a problem with the rest of the budget, not social security.
- perl4ever 9y ago
  Medicare also seem to me to be simply shifting dollars over time. Some people may gain or lose, but on average, it's just financing my (the average person's) health care when I'm old with money from my salary when I'm young.
  - lotsofpulp 9y ago
    Due to demographics and inflation, you will certainly pay more into it than get out of it. Which means both social and Medicare are just welfare programs restricted to the old. Watch both become more and more means tested as the divide between haves and have nots grow wider. And the old vote in huge proportions so no one is taking away their benefits.
    - perl4ever 9y ago
      Given current life expectancy statistics, I expect to live to the age where I can benefit from Social Security and Medicare. In fact, I already benefited from Social Security as a child after my father died. I cannot regard the people who pay for these programs and the people who benefit from them as separate classes. It seems like there is something similar going on with the debate over healthcare. People on the right seem to conceive of the healthy and the sick as separate classes of people. But I don't, so arguments based on an inherent struggle between the two are not sensical to me. It almost seems as if the much older view of the rich and poor as separate classes has metastasized and mutated across ideological boundaries.
- wombatpm 9y ago
  The excess revenues from social security are 'invested' in special government bonds that earn a fixed rate of return. We hit peak social security excess in 2008. To the powers that be a decrease in excess amounts to a loss in revenue. Wait until the social security administration cashes in those bonds, those redemptions go straight to the national debt.

murftown 9y ago

OK, but isn't it true that a lot of Defense spending is categorized differently and doesn't show up on the budget?

Gargoyle 9y ago
When you ask for a source and someone provides it, any further rebuttals on your part really should include a source of your own.
- murftown 9y ago
  Reasonable request. I thought that by starting with "isn't it true" I was implying that I didn't know. Also, the person who provided the source was someone else, so if you're asking for a source re my question, perhaps someone will provide it. In any case your poke got me wondering and doing a bit of research.
  - mistermann 9y ago
    I must admit, those numbers seem dramatically out of line with my intuition as well. If I was a betting man I'd say there's a bit more to the story, but then the source (https://www.cbpp.org/about/mission-history https://www.cbpp.org/about/mission-history) seems fairly left leaning so if there was any bending of the truth I'd expect it in the other direction. Perhaps the reason this feels off is because it's the government budget, which is a subset of the overall economy obviously. And, a lot of the dollars spent here are going back into corporations, for varying levels of return on the dollar I'm sure. I think this is why the numbers sound so great/generous, but don't match reality when you look out the window, watch the news, or read the newspaper.
JauntTrooper 9y ago
You may be thinking of how Congress funds the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They do indeed fall outside of the ‘planned’ DoD budget, even though we’ve been at war for 17+ years. They’re funded by special appropriations bills. This 16% ($605 billion) number includes $74 billion in a special Overseas Contingency Operations bill for Afghanistan. Alternatively, you may also be thinking of the DoD ‘black budget’, which is classified. That is included in the budget, but it’s not itemized or described in any way to keep what it’s spent on a secret. It’s typically around $65 billion.

hedora 9y ago

I never understood why social security counts as “spending”. We all are forced to put money into a fund that mathematically cannot lose money unless life expectancy shoots way up. When we withdraw the money according to plan, the government is not “spending” it. The fact that congress borrows from the fund and doesn’t pay it back is a problem with the rest of the budget, not social security.

perl4ever 9y ago
Medicare also seem to me to be simply shifting dollars over time. Some people may gain or lose, but on average, it's just financing my (the average person's) health care when I'm old with money from my salary when I'm young.
- lotsofpulp 9y ago
  Due to demographics and inflation, you will certainly pay more into it than get out of it. Which means both social and Medicare are just welfare programs restricted to the old. Watch both become more and more means tested as the divide between haves and have nots grow wider. And the old vote in huge proportions so no one is taking away their benefits.
  - perl4ever 9y ago
    Given current life expectancy statistics, I expect to live to the age where I can benefit from Social Security and Medicare. In fact, I already benefited from Social Security as a child after my father died. I cannot regard the people who pay for these programs and the people who benefit from them as separate classes. It seems like there is something similar going on with the debate over healthcare. People on the right seem to conceive of the healthy and the sick as separate classes of people. But I don't, so arguments based on an inherent struggle between the two are not sensical to me. It almost seems as if the much older view of the rich and poor as separate classes has metastasized and mutated across ideological boundaries.
wombatpm 9y ago
The excess revenues from social security are 'invested' in special government bonds that earn a fixed rate of return. We hit peak social security excess in 2008. To the powers that be a decrease in excess amounts to a loss in revenue. Wait until the social security administration cashes in those bonds, those redemptions go straight to the national debt.