U.S. Debt Clock

[Maken]

http://www.usdebtclock.org/#

[bluecherry]

I find it interesting and sad that according to the estimates on that thing more money is spent on medicare and medicaid than defense/wars and it looks like states are averaging greater amounts of deficits than their total income.

[softwareNerd]

I find it interesting and sad that according to the estimates on that thing more money is spent on medicare and medicaid than defense/wars...

Over half the Federal spending goes out under four categories: Social security, Medicare, Medicaid and Income security. Interest on the Federal debt accounts for another 10%. This page has a pie chart.

However, there is another way of looking at two of those: Medicare and Social Security. Since people pay in some taxes particularly for those two, one way of looking at the data is to pull these two programs out of the Federal budget and show the Federal expenditure 0on them only to the extent of their specific deficits. And, then there are spin doctors (example pie chart) who throw in a small qualifying term (e.g. "discretionary") and show a completely different picture.

... and it looks like states are averaging greater amounts of deficits than their total income.

The figure shown is the debt (i.e. cumulative figure of all deficits across the years). Also, the spending numbers are for the calendar year to date. Since we're only in Jan, you can multiply by 12 to get an annual estimate.

[bluecherry]

Ah, so the income for the states is only that much so far since 2010 started? Alright. I was wondering for a moment how long they could expect to keep up spending over twice what they take in. And the thing that interested me about the medicaid and medicare versus defense/war thing was I've often heard it said by more left leaning types that the military is where the real absurd money drain is that should be cut and that their universal health care schemes could be done cheaply, but if medicare and medicaid alone as it is cost more than what they believe is ridiculously huge spending, this certainly looks to put them in if not a direct contradiction and refutation, at least a rather incriminating light (or more incriminating perhaps to be more accurate.)

[Steve D'Ippolito]

That little sleight of hand with "discretionary" spending has been going on for a long time. I remember in college (under Reagan) the leftie-puke narrative was that the defense budget was huge and growing by leaps and bounds and threatening to eat the federal government. And his tax cuts increased the deficit! When Reagan presented his first budget, it was for just under a trillion dollars, and the Denver Post splashed the amount across the front page, in the largest type they could (about two inches tall), "$983,000,000,000" (or something like that). Below it, going to below the fold, was a pie graph that showed *only* discretionary spending, and of course defense was a majority of that money--but welfare, social security, etc., were not shown. So highlighting one total and displaying a graph that doesn't actually show how that total was made up was used to give the impression that Defense was gobbling up over half a trillion dollars and leaving the rest of the federal government starving, which was far from true back then.

They have no shame pushing that deceptive graphic.

[Robert J. Kolker]

I find it interesting and sad that according to the estimates on that thing more money is spent on medicare and medicaid than defense/wars and it looks like states are averaging greater amounts of deficits than their total income.

In the strict accounting sense, we are bankrupt. We hold out the cup and the Chinese drop in Huan (their unit of currency). This is not the first time, nor will it be the last. After the American Revolution, the newly created United States was fiscally broke. Our currency was not worth a Continental.

Bob Kolker