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A government that spends more money on their military than the rest of the world combined isn't at risk of bankruptcy from firing a couple missiles. We're at r

A government that spends more money on their military than the rest of the world combined isn't at risk of bankruptcy from firing a couple missiles. We're at risk of bankruptcy because our debt is 31 trillion dollars and in June we won't even be able to issue securities to continue bullshitting ourselves out of cutting spending. Welcome to America, we're broke because we spent all our money on guns rather than infrastructure, healthcare and education.

pixl97 4y ago
We spend more on Healthcare and education per capital than almost any other country. Don't let people bullshit you on the amount spent. Now results on dollars spent is a different question with a different answer.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- it_citizen 4y ago
  Interesting, didn't know that. I imagine it includes private/public spending as well?
  - yamtaddle 4y ago
    We spend more per capita just in public money than some peer states do to provide universal healthcare, while ours isn't universal. It makes more sense when you consider how many programs we have—a pretty high percentage of our population is covered by public spending, and—crucially—the ones who are are in some cases among the most expensive to care for. 1) Medicare (old or disabled) 2) Medicaid (poor) 3) Tricare or whatever they call it now, since I think the name changed (active and IIRC retired-with-full-benefits military and their spouses and kids, at least for the active-duty ones, can't recall if that part carries over in retirement) 4) VA (military veterans, including those with short terms of service) 5) Federal employees 6) State employees 7) County employees 8) City employees 9) Cops and firefighters and such, if not covered under any of the above. 10) School district employees (there are lots of these) Not all of these are cases in which all the spending is covered by public money, but some of them are, and in other cases a great deal of it is. Also I've probably missed some programs. [EDIT] Oh and that's not counting public money that goes to private companies but ends up paying for healthcare for those companies' employees and families, who are employed expressly to work on those publicly-funded projects—I can see arguments either way for counting that, depends on what you're trying to understand.
ajross 4y ago
Standard reply to debt rhetoric: US debt service costs measured against the economy are not particularly high historically: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FYOIGDA188S https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FYOIGDA188S The 80's were much, much worse. If we were ever going to go bankrupt, it was in the early Clinton administration due to the Reagan/Bush spending boom. We got through just fine. Those bonds were all paid off decades ago. Be very very very cautious any time someone comes at you with this kind of hyperbole about federal debt. They're selling you something.
avalys 4y ago
> Welcome to America, we're broke because we spent all our money on guns rather than infrastructure, healthcare and education. This sentiment is completely untrue. Defense is approximately 12% of US government spending, healthcare approximately 24%, education approximately 15%, and social security roughly 20%. Infrastructure is harder to categorize, but the truth is that the US government spends at least 4x more on healthcare, education and welfare (combined) than defense. https://www.usgovernmentspending.com/year_spending_2023USrn_24rs2n#usgs302 https://www.usgovernmentspending.com/year_spending_2023USrn_... The fact that this 12% of government spending amounts to the largest military on earth is in large part a consequence of the fact that the US is really, enormously wealthy compared to most of the rest of the world, has a fairly large population, and still has a larger GDP per capita than any other large or even medium-sized country.
- cpursley 4y ago
  > the US government spends at least 4x more on healthcare, education and welfare And we’re terrible at all three vs nations that spend fractions less…
  - avalys 4y ago
    Yes, and that's why we should oppose more tax increases and more government spending, and focus instead on how to make government more efficient and get more value for the money we do spend.
    - kennyloginz 4y ago
      Be careful. Cutting education will decrease our future efficiency.
- hot_gril 4y ago
  Yep. Basically welfare far exceeds all other costs.

pixl97 4y ago

We spend more on Healthcare and education per capital than almost any other country. Don't let people bullshit you on the amount spent. Now results on dollars spent is a different question with a different answer.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
it_citizen 4y ago
Interesting, didn't know that. I imagine it includes private/public spending as well?
- yamtaddle 4y ago
  We spend more per capita just in public money than some peer states do to provide universal healthcare, while ours isn't universal. It makes more sense when you consider how many programs we have—a pretty high percentage of our population is covered by public spending, and—crucially—the ones who are are in some cases among the most expensive to care for. 1) Medicare (old or disabled) 2) Medicaid (poor) 3) Tricare or whatever they call it now, since I think the name changed (active and IIRC retired-with-full-benefits military and their spouses and kids, at least for the active-duty ones, can't recall if that part carries over in retirement) 4) VA (military veterans, including those with short terms of service) 5) Federal employees 6) State employees 7) County employees 8) City employees 9) Cops and firefighters and such, if not covered under any of the above. 10) School district employees (there are lots of these) Not all of these are cases in which all the spending is covered by public money, but some of them are, and in other cases a great deal of it is. Also I've probably missed some programs. [EDIT] Oh and that's not counting public money that goes to private companies but ends up paying for healthcare for those companies' employees and families, who are employed expressly to work on those publicly-funded projects—I can see arguments either way for counting that, depends on what you're trying to understand.

ajross 4y ago

Standard reply to debt rhetoric: US debt service costs measured against the economy are not particularly high historically: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FYOIGDA188S https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FYOIGDA188S The 80's were much, much worse. If we were ever going to go bankrupt, it was in the early Clinton administration due to the Reagan/Bush spending boom. We got through just fine. Those bonds were all paid off decades ago. Be very very very cautious any time someone comes at you with this kind of hyperbole about federal debt. They're selling you something.

avalys 4y ago

> Welcome to America, we're broke because we spent all our money on guns rather than infrastructure, healthcare and education. This sentiment is completely untrue. Defense is approximately 12% of US government spending, healthcare approximately 24%, education approximately 15%, and social security roughly 20%. Infrastructure is harder to categorize, but the truth is that the US government spends at least 4x more on healthcare, education and welfare (combined) than defense. https://www.usgovernmentspending.com/year_spending_2023USrn_24rs2n#usgs302 https://www.usgovernmentspending.com/year_spending_2023USrn_... The fact that this 12% of government spending amounts to the largest military on earth is in large part a consequence of the fact that the US is really, enormously wealthy compared to most of the rest of the world, has a fairly large population, and still has a larger GDP per capita than any other large or even medium-sized country.

cpursley 4y ago
> the US government spends at least 4x more on healthcare, education and welfare And we’re terrible at all three vs nations that spend fractions less…
- avalys 4y ago
  Yes, and that's why we should oppose more tax increases and more government spending, and focus instead on how to make government more efficient and get more value for the money we do spend.
  - kennyloginz 4y ago
    Be careful. Cutting education will decrease our future efficiency.
hot_gril 4y ago
Yep. Basically welfare far exceeds all other costs.