The NYT has a fantastic interactive graphic that not only provides information on the budget proposed by the Obama administration, it also gives one an idea of the relative level of spending per policy: How $3.7 Trillion is spent.
h/t: The Political Wire.
It is a great graphic. IMO there’s just one wrinkle that it needs: there should be some way of distinguishing between the portion of the budget that’s funded from revenues and the portion that’s borrowed.
That would tell us at least three things. First, it would be clearer just how lousy our fiscal position is. Second, it would be clearer that we can’t exempt Social Security, Medicare, military spending, and interest on the debt and bring the budget into anything that remotely resembles balance. Third, we can’t balance the budget by cutting discretionary spending alone.
Nice graph. Social Security is self funding although it needs to be worked on. And I wonder how much money has been taken out of the SSA fund over the years.
Also, it would be nice to see a graph on what we need to spend money on that we have neglected through the years. Like 2 trillion dollars to support our infrastructure and billions needed on scientific research just to keep up with competing with other countries.
Social Security is self funding although it needs to be worked on.
You might want to take a look at the trustees’ report. Social Security outlays were larger than revenues this year.
Nominally, that just means that some of the IOU’s that the system has accrued over the years will be cashed in. Consequently, while from an accounting standpoint the system is self-funding, from a cashflow standpoint it isn’t and may not be again for the foreseeable future.
If memory serves (and I have to admit, I was too lazy to go refresh my read) on an inflation adjusted basis the average SS recipient receives 2.5 – 3x their contributions. Let’s be careful when we say SS can’t be adjusted because “they are owed.”
If you put a dollar in the bank are you owed $3? This is an intergenerational wealth transfer.
And let’s not even go to the original SS proposition…..
