Over half of all tax $ goes to.....

[Stryker]

A wall would be a great idea if Mexicans didn't know how to build tunnels.

 

[oneforthebus]

A wall would also be great if a large number of illegal immigrants weren't people who came here legally and overstayed their visas.

 

[DBS1970]

We need to stop spending any money at all on most things the national government does(There is no longer a Federal System) and privatize social security. That would involve a great deal of fear on behalf of the sheep out there who are afraid of actual freedom and Pols who don't want to give up the power and influence they peddle. Defense spending needs to be cut by at least half and we need to stop footing the bill to defend modern countries that can feild their own defense forces.

 

[SteelChip]

Land of the Free? For some I guess.

 

[scstillerfan]

And the welfare/housing number doesn't account for all the fraudulent/free Medicare spending. I bet that number is frightening. Add in the state's funding of welfare, the legal systems required to police it, the cost of crimes including insurance, and you see the biggest problem in America.

 

[ark steel]

Education is such a complex issue. I am obviously in favor of busting all public-sector unions and maybe that is a step towards better cost efficiency in our educations.

The federal spending on education is actually a pretty small percentage of overall education spending. If you look at that website I just linked, TOTAL spending by all levels of government in this country on education is $1 TRILLION

That is divided into Pre-K through 12th grade ($650 billion) vs. college/tertiary ($300 billion) and then $50 billion of "other".

Of all this $1 trillion in spending the federal government is responsible for $126 billion - about 12.6%

Not sure I agree with "cutting them off" from that 12.6% right away but I do agree with you that maybe you tell states we are going to start cutting federal monies over the next 5 years and make the goal $100 billion or target 10% of total educational spending.

It's weird but according to that website States are helping K-12 education almost not at all. "Local" governments account for $600 billion of the total $650 billion spent on K-12 education in this country.

It is complex. However, my biggest problem, outside of the waste, are the strings attached.

 

[deljzc]

Here is a "blown up" version of the spending chart/link I listed before.

This is VERY detailed but you might have to search google if you are confused about what something is called or what is actually is. And the negative numbers are rather confusing until you realize some are "withdrawals" from previously allocated monies into "funds" (i.e. the government spends the money into a fund and then states/local withdraw the funds at a different time for different purposes).

http://www.usgovernmentspending.com...5_603_604_751_155_753_401_402_403_252#usgs302

 

[ark steel]

One of the beautiful ironies of this ****** up administration is that, during one of the scandals (VA, I think) one of his spokespersons (in order to deflect blame from The Big O) actually mentioned that the government is too big for one person to know enough detail.

 

[Coach]

Uhhh ... except that the numbers in that article are demonstrably false. This is a chart showing Federal spending, based on figures from the CBO:

Medicare and Social Security consume 61% of Federal spending.

The chart you presented was the on the books chart. What about the off the books spending? Donald Rumsfeld said $2.3 Trillion missing from the Pentagon budget he could not account for! Rumself was a fool, but an honest one.

http://search.myway.com/search/vide...+said+he+lost&si=204822&ss=sub&st=tab&tpr=sbt

This is equivalent to more than half the USA budget for a year. Either the business of war is too big to fail or those in the know really fear something big might happen. To scare some with facts, the USA, China, and Russia have been busy tunneling deep underground bases, some of which can hold 10,000+ people and grow their own food underground.

This is a hedge and 99% of the public is unaware. A black or dark budget if you will. So Pop isn't exactly wrong.

 

[deljzc]

The chart you presented was the on the books chart. What about the off the books spending? Donald Rumsfeld said $2.3 Trillion missing from the Pentagon budget he could not account for! Rumself was a fool, but an honest one.

http://search.myway.com/search/vide...+said+he+lost&si=204822&ss=sub&st=tab&tpr=sbt

This is equivalent to more than half the USA budget for a year. Either the business of war is too big to fail or those in the know really fear something big might happen. To scare some with facts, the USA, China, and Russia have been busy tunneling deep underground bases, some of which can hold 10,000+ people and grow their own food underground.

This is a hedge and 99% of the public is unaware. A black or dark budget if you will. So Pop isn't exactly wrong.

Rumsfeld was not honest....

You stating that just about made me throw up in my mouth.

 

[SteelChip]

The chart you presented was the on the books chart. What about the off the books spending? Donald Rumsfeld said $2.3 Trillion missing from the Pentagon budget he could not account for! Rumself was a fool, but an honest one.

This is equivalent to more than half the USA budget for a year. Either the business of war is too big to fail or those in the know really fear something big might happen. To scare some with facts, the USA, China, and Russia have been busy tunneling deep underground bases, some of which can hold 10,000+ people and grow their own food underground.
.

Not even close, didn't this get debunked at least once before ?

Step 5 - Single Sentence Debunking

The money was not missing, just not properly tracked, and they eventually sorted out how it was spent, and what they got for it.

Step 6 - Truth behind the quote?

As it stands the quote was true. But $2.3 trillion was never missing. The interpretation of the quote does of course have some grain of truth in it. Millions, maybe even billions of dollars "go missing" after a fashion due to accounting discrepancies - and perhaps even some illegal actions. But it certainly is not $2,300 Billion.
http://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0LE...on.t165//RK=0/RS=_Rf3QNOlWcH_SPn7A4go5rcZK14-

 

[21STEELERS21]

The biggest problem is there are 3 layers of government: local, state and national. Maybe we should use technology to get it down to 1.
Hell with state rights if it eliminates a layer of government.

 

[Coach]

Not even close, didn't this get debunked at least once before ?

Step 5 - Single Sentence Debunking

The money was not missing, just not properly tracked, and they eventually sorted out how it was spent, and what they got for it.

Step 6 - Truth behind the quote?

As it stands the quote was true. But $2.3 trillion was never missing. The interpretation of the quote does of course have some grain of truth in it. Millions, maybe even billions of dollars "go missing" after a fashion due to accounting discrepancies - and perhaps even some illegal actions. But it certainly is not $2,300 Billion.
http://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0LE...on.t165//RK=0/RS=_Rf3QNOlWcH_SPn7A4go5rcZK14-

Just like corporations cooking the books, right? This debunk author does not know for sure, unless he's the CFO of the Pentagon. The best way not to account for money is an accounting discrepancy. Do you really beleive everhtying the govermnent tells you? I do not. Maybe it wasn't 2.3 trillion, but I bet it was a huge sum of money in the billions.

 

[Steeltime]

The biggest problem is there are 3 layers of government: local, state and national. Maybe we should use technology to get it down to 1.
Hell with state rights if it eliminates a layer of government.

The theory behind having a central government with very specified and limited powers is that an unchecked, powerful, centralized government will be more likely to look after its own interests, rather than the interests of the taxpayer, and further that a powerful centralized government is more likely to abuse its power, giving citizens little in the way of recourse. We founded the nation on the constitution, which was crafted to prevent a distant "king" from imposing his will on citizens.

Further, our government is run under a grant of power by the citizens. Our nation was the first ever founded on the precept that the government gets its powers from the people, and via consent, rather than by force or royalty or religion. I don't support simply tossing out the constitutional structure to "do away" with local government.

 

[SteelChip]

. Do you really beleive everhtying the govermnent tells you? I do not. Maybe it wasn't 2.3 trillion, but I bet it was a huge sum of money in the billions.

Or maybe Jesse Ventura was right....

It is very clear based on this that he was making a very clear statement that the pentagon was unable to track 2.3 trillion dollars worth of transactions. That is a staggering sum of money that Rumsfeld made very clear that the pentagon is unable to track. The next day, the very next day the pentagon was hit the attacks of 9/11 and some skeptical investigators began to wonder if it was possible that there was any link between the attacks and this “missing” $2.3 Trillion.

Update: I forgot to mention, but Fetzer has not only argued that the attacks were a distraction from this announcement, but that a missile was fired at the Pentagon in an attempt to assassinate the accountants who were searching for this missing money.

 

[Coach]

Or maybe Jesse Ventura was right....

It is very clear based on this that he was making a very clear statement that the pentagon was unable to track 2.3 trillion dollars worth of transactions. That is a staggering sum of money that Rumsfeld made very clear that the pentagon is unable to track. The next day, the very next day the pentagon was hit the attacks of 9/11 and some skeptical investigators began to wonder if it was possible that there was any link between the attacks and this “missing” $2.3 Trillion.

Update: I forgot to mention, but Fetzer has not only argued that the attacks were a distraction from this announcement, but that a missile was fired at the Pentagon in an attempt to assassinate the accountants who were searching for this missing money.

Not being able to track that amount of money, coming from a high-level person is very worrisome.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

Hell with state rights if it eliminates a layer of government.

Or if a certain state doesn't believe in global warming or gun control or gay marriage.