Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

I recently found a non-profit, non-partisan organization whose website provides a wealth of useful information and analysis on federal and state budget priorities. Visit the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and browse some of their reports.

If I were to recommend a good place to start devouring all this information, their Federal Budget Outlook Slideshow would be it. One look at the pie chart on slide #2, combined with a little bit of thought, makes it clear what our government's (i.e, elected officials') priorities are:

32% - Social Security and Medicare

It sounds pretty benevolent of our government to spend a third of its budget on Social Security and health care for the poor, doesn't it. But what's the alternative for any politician who wants to be re-elected--drastically cutting these programs all at once? And don't forget, the way these programs are administered is an exercise in waste and inefficiency. We could get so much more mileage out of this same amount of money if our government focused on improving its competence, rather than constantly seeking to increase spending on these programs.

21% - Defense and Homeland Security

Let's call this what it really is: a little bit of pay for our military personnel, and a hell of a lot of corporate welfare for defense contractors, like Halliburton. Almost none of this astronomical expenditure actually defends or protects us from any real threats. In fact, it creates so much hatred and animosity toward the U.S. worldwide that we are less secure (more at risk of attack) than ever before. (See International Spending below).

21% - Other Entitlements

Food stamps, Temporary Assistance For Needy Families (TANF), Earned Income Credit, etc. Same problem as with Social Security and Medicare. A foolish government and its money are soon parted, leaving millions of poor Americans with fewer benefits than they otherwise could have enjoyed. Doesn't really matter what percentage of the budget goes toward programs that are administered poorly, much like giving a raise to a cocaine addict doesn't tend to improve his or her personal savings.

17% - Domestic spending

Here's your American education, federal job salaries, transportation/highways, border guard, etc.

Did I mention education? Visit Student Loan Justice and The American Debtors Prison to learn the catastrophic effects of infinitesimal federal spending on education, which forces impoverished Americans to seek desperate solutions for obtaining a higher education. Also visit MySpace and observe the grammar on profiles in the 18-24 age group to witness how well our public education system from K-12 and beyond really works.

And don't forget--highway funds are primarily used by the federal government as leverage to force states to "voluntarily" comply with the federal government's wishes, effectively overriding the states' autonomy. So much for the union of independent (and unique) states that our Founders created. It also explains all the potholes, and the miles of construction cones where no one is working, on our interstate highways.

7% - interest on the national debt

How much praise would YOU expect to receive from others if you told them that you spent 7% of your annual income paying just the interest on your debts, while piling on even more debts through deficit spending? Brilliant fiscal management by our elected officials, most of whom are re-elected over and over again, before they run for President.

2% - international aid

International aid spreads economic stability and goodwill throughout the world, to improve our own economy, and to remove any basis for other nations to want to attack us. Nations, like dogs, don't bite the hand that feeds them--especially when that nation doesn't just hand out fish, but teaches them how to fish. (See Defense Spending above for President Bush's well-funded alternative to a peaceful, prosperous, and stable world.)

Also, see Pennies For Peace to learn how one man has used pennies to accomplish more in the fight against international terrorism than President Bush has accomplished with trillions of dollars.

---

Here are some other highlights from the Center on Budget Policy Priorities annotated slideshow:

Slide #6: "Even With Iraq And Katrina, Federal Spending Is Below Average For Recent Decades"

Slide #8: "What Would It Take To Balance The Budget While Preserving The Tax Cuts?"

Slide #10: "Under Current Policy, Deficits Will Grow Dramatically Deeper in Coming Decades"

Slide #20: "President's Proposed Cuts in Domestic Discretionary Funding Grow Deeper Over Time"

Slide #22: "President's Budget Calls for Large Cuts to Broad Range of Domestic Programs"

Slide #23: "Since 2001, Funding for Domestic Discretionary Programs Has Fallen as a Share of the Economy"

Slide #29: "The Current Recovery Has Been Weaker Than Average. Only Corporate Profits Have Grown Rapidly"

Slide #30: "Job Growth Has Been Especially Weak in This Recovery"

Slide #33: "Likely Consequences of Unbalanced Approach To Deficit Reduction"

All the best,
Paul