4 ms·
I know it was meant to be a joke, about "foreign aid", but if you haven't seen https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/3/13/17096732/voter-misinformation-w
by bzbarsky 9y ago
I know it was meant to be a joke, about "foreign aid", but if you haven't seen https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/3/13/17096732/voter-misinformation-williamson https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/3/13/17096732/v... you should. Turns out voters aren't as daft on "foreign aid" as is popularly believed by the political commentariat.
- maxxxxx 9y agoWhen I listen to my neighbor he thinks that welfare is around 60% of budget, foreign aid 20%, social security/medicare 10% and maybe 5% goes to defense.
- bzbarsky 9y agoThe correct number for "defense" is 16-20% or so depending on how you count veterans' benefits. But again, it's worth asking yourself how much of that your neighbor is effectively allocating to "defense" and how much to "foreign aid". Because the US military sure doesn't spend that much time actually defending the US recently... The "welfare" vs "social security/medicare" numbers there are off, of course (just about backwards, though if you count Medicaid as "welfare" that puts an 11% floor on the "welfare" number right there).