Less filling! Tastes great!
Less filling! Tastes great!
Less Spending! More Taxes!
Cut Entitlements! Tax the Rich!
Governments don't run solely on "good intentions," you know.
Ever wonder, what in the world do they spend all that Tax Revenue on anyways?
If only we could check out that Government "checkbook" ....
Want to know what you really value in life -- just check what you've spent your income on over the years. Where your spending receipts are, so is your heart-burn.
OK, since the "Less Spending" crowd cites the White House OMB Budget page, I thought I'd check it out too, to see what I could find there ...
Yikes! So many links ... so many piles of data. How is a person with a PC and a spreadsheet, ever to make sense of it all?
Start Clicking. Start downloading. Start reading. Check the footnotes.
I found this rather quickly. It kind of looks like a bottom-line checkbook:
Table S-6. Proposed Budget by Category as a Percent of GDP
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That "kind of" spotlights our Nation's spending priorities ... Outlays vs Receipts; Mandatory vs Discretionary spending; Security vs Non-security.
Looks like Non-security spending is about half of Security spending, roughly speaking.
And Mandatory spending (aka. "entitlements") is almost twice of both of those, roughly speaking. (Must be why Republicans target them?)
And Total Receipts (ie Tax Revenue) is roughly 70 to 80% of ALL those "Outlay" spending programs. I guess we just borrow the rest each year -- you know, like never paying off your credit cards -- and always keep a floating "credit balance" from year to year. Because Emergencies happen.
But those are all "projected numbers," looking forward. Based on what -- more GOP good intentions? ... Extending our Historical trend-lines, assuming "rational minds" will eventually prevail, in our dysfunctional House of Representatives?
Certainly there must be another way to get a handle on where were going, and where we've been -- when it comes to our Nation's Spending Priorities.
Assuming the Bush Tax Cuts finally sunset -- WHAT in the world will all that new-found Revenue Windfall end up being spent on?
Perhaps the White House OMB Historical page, can lend us a clue, whether our country will end up "Less filling or Tasting great" ...
Table 4.1 -- Outlays by Agency: 1962-2017
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This looks promising, but ugh! so much data, it's making me cross-eyed. Isn't there a way to make these Historic Spending Priorities more comprehensible?
Two words: Pie Charts (... with "priorities" sorted from Top to Least, for selected years.)
2012
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2000
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1990
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1972
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Two more words: Longitudinal Snapshots (... comparing "apples to apples" over time; by using my favorite "data-trick" -- Adding a 4th-data-dimension: using "color codes" for comparing categories, across the selected historical snapshots. Whew! Enjoy.)
compares Priorities: 2012 to 2000
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compares Priorities: 2000 to 1990
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compares Priorities across all four snapshots: 2012, 2000, 1990, and 1972
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OK, that kind of gives a "Big Picture" sense of where were going, based on where we've been -- with regards to our Nation's Spending Priorities. Historically speaking, anyways. Because stuff changes.
The one question remaining, I guess. WHERE in the world does America WANT to end up, in the long run?
If the "past is prolog" -- Look Out. Blood will continue to trump our intellectual treasure.
If where you spend your Treasury receipts, indicates the priorities your National heart and soul; we should take great care, to check that track-record once in a while. And try to remind Congress, WHY WE PAY TAXES, and what it is that WE expect from it.
Because as we all know -- Congress could use a little help, as it once again so carefully tackles, that long very tedious process of balancing the Nation's books. Year after year. Cliff after cliff. Hostage after Fiscal hostage.
No worries, Folk -- Congress is all over it. Lol. (I guess, that's why I blog.)
Until WE spell out where WE want to go as a {democratic-progressive} Nation, there's very little chance we'll actually end up there.
Remember it's OUR Future -- at least it used to be. Congress needs to wake up and smell the 21st century coffee. And talk to a few green-eye-shade economists already. Ask them for a chart or two, before maxing out next year's check-book, again.
Increasing Revenue, is HOW we can afford all this "nice stuff" in the first place. As I recall, according to the Constitution.