Lets take a look back at the federal budget for 2008 (to avoid getting wrapped up in the latest round of bailouts and stimulus spending that eventually will subside anyway).
According to the CBO, 21% of the 2008 federal budget went toward defense and national security. That's not likely to change in wartime-unless the government decides it's time to bring most of the troops home and cut the force.
In addition, the CBO says:
* 21% went to Social Security
* 20% went to Medicare, Medicaid, and child health programs
* 11% went to "safety net" programs--Social Security disability, food
stamps, school lunch programs, earned income tax credit, etc.
* 8% went to pay interest on the national debt.
* 6% went to federal and military retirement/survivor programs and
VA benefits
* 3%went to transportation and infrastructure, another 3% to scientific
and medical research and 2% to education leaving
* 5% for everything else in government operations
Its pretty easy to identify a billion here and a billion there in obvious pork spending. But that's a tiny drop in the bucket compared to what actually will have to be done to balance the budget.
When crunch time comes, the real issue won't be how much to cut, but how to most fairly share the pain across all segments of the country.
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SoWal Expert
It's always hard to tell exactly where money goes because of crossovers and terminology. For example, nuclear weapons go in the budget under Energy.
Basically we need to stop footing the bills for NATO going to war and drastically cut Medicare and other social programs somehow.
Basically we need to stop footing the bills for NATO going to war and drastically cut Medicare and other social programs somehow.
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