This diary is two-part: First, to make sure I am correctly understanding how they went about spinning the numbers. Second, to share what I found out about 'Big Government.'
It started with having CNN on in the background and Jack Cafferty exclaims:
The clock is ticking. The federal government will shut down Friday night if Congress does not agree on a 2011 budget. Republicans in the House and Democrats in the Senate appear to be billions of dollars apart on spending cuts and a deal is nowhere in sight.
Pretty pathetic.
Oh, and President Obama is off fundraising in Pennsylvania and New York tonight. But apparently they are all going to try to get together at the White House when the president gets back there later.
But our problems with debt and spending are staggering. And our lawmakers' failure to address the issue in any meaningful way borders on being criminal.
Try this on. According to the Treasury Department, the federal government spent more than eight times what it brought in in the month of March. Eight times.
And by the end of this fiscal year in September, the national debt will exceed $15.4 trillion.
How did we get here?
Well for one, the size of government has gotten out of hand: More people now work for the government - 22.5 million Americans - than work in the manufacturing, farming, fishing, forestry, mining and utilities industries combined.
Republican Congressman Paul Ryan from Wisconsin, the new chairman of the House Budget Committee, says that the United States is at a "tipping point" in its debt crisis. He says the Congressional Budget Office predicts our economy will simply be unable to continue past 2037 if something serious isn't done soon.
Here’s my question to you: What does it mean that the U.S. government spent 8 times more than it took in in March?
So I thought "That's INSANE Jack! We need to stop the Government from spending that much again!"
Then I started digging to see what it really means, Jack.
Again, Jack said
According to the Treasury Department, the federal government spent more than eight times what it brought in in the month of March. Eight times.
so I wanted to know where those numbers came from. It took about 30 minutes to search and track the statement back to
this article from a conservative news [talking points dissemination] site
During the month, according to the Treasury, the federal government grossed $194 billion in tax revenue and paid out $65.898 billion in tax refunds (including $62.011 to individuals and $3.887 to businesses) thus netting $128.179 billion in tax revenue for March.
At the same time, the Treasury paid out a total of $1.1187 trillion. When the $65.898 billion in tax refunds is deducted from that, the Treasury paid a net of $1.0528 trillion in federal expenses for March.
That $1.0528 trillion in spending for March equaled 8.2 times the $128.179 in net federal tax revenue for the month.
which referenced the Treasury Department's
March 31st report(pdf). Now, I'm not an accountant, but correct me if I'm wrong. It looks like they took the Tax Income, subtracted Tax Refunds, and then compared that number to Total Expenditures -- which included funds paid back into the Debt Fund.
For example, I made $1,000 in March. I spent $1,000 on expenses. I borrowed $7,000 from my father and spent $7,100 to pay him back. That means that I 'spent' $1,000+$7,100=$8,100. That is eight times my income! wow! That's insane! Right?
I need someone who actually crunches numbers to look at the report and see if that is what they in fact did.
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Now, on to the second part...
Jack also said
Well for one, the size of government has gotten out of hand: More people now work for the government - 22.5 million Americans - than work in the manufacturing, farming, fishing, forestry, mining and utilities industries combined.
That took a little while longer to track down. It came from a WSJ
editorial that starts with
If you want to understand better why so many states—from New York to Wisconsin to California—are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, consider this depressing statistic: Today in America there are nearly twice as many people working for the government (22.5 million) than in all of manufacturing (11.5 million). This is an almost exact reversal of the situation in 1960, when there were 15 million workers in manufacturing and 8.7 million collecting a paycheck from the government.
Once more, I did a little research and I found where the numbers come from. The
Bureau of Labor Statistics maintains historical labor levels. The numbers come from
Table B-1.
Look at how few Government jobs there were back in 1961! Only 8.7 million employees! See that, in fact, 22.5 million people worked in Government in 2010! (exclamation points highlighting what they want you to see) That's Huge!
Now take some time to see the fluctuations in the other industries. Look at the Manufacturing jobs that have been shipped overseas. Look at the Construction jobs that were decimated by the Financial Industry playing baccarat with mortgages.
Now go back and take another look at the Government employment numbers. In 1961, Government employees made up 9.72% of the totals. In 2010, Government made up 9.29% of the totals. That's right, the levels are about the same if not a little lower than 1961. BIG Government indeed.
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This took a little over an hour to research and to try to understand the numbers and put them in perspective. I type with two fingers, so the diary took longer to write. The point being, there are few viewers with the time, let alone the inclination, to research the BS that airs on television. Jack, on the other hand, has the research resources of CNN to find out what these numbers really mean.
So to answer the question: What does it mean that the U.S. government spent 8 times more than it took in in March? It means I did your job, Jack.