Question...and maybe take this in another direction because it's a line in the sand discussion with each side using the pie charts most applicable to their argument. Let's assume for a second that Obama has increased the debt by $6.4 Trillion or whatever it might be in less than 4 years. What exactly is the majority of this money being spent on? Yeah, I know he came in shelling out the $$$ for this bailout or that, but there has to be something more specific draining all that cash. Is it the war? Is it the fact that we spent years fighting in Iraq, and now we're spending untold amounts to help rebuild it? Is it financing the battle in Afghanistan?
You guys know I don't follow politics that closely, certainly not on the level of most of you in here. And this is not to defend Obama...or Bush...or attack either of them as well. But it seems to me that both these Presidents were/are in office at a time when this country was/is basically at war. I'm asking because I honestly don't know. Is that the biggest drain on the economy or were both these Presidents handing out skwazillions to their favorite special interest groups?
A lot of it IS DoD spending. Here ya go Snag. This is the 2013 Budget:
Incoming:Total receipts (in billions of dollars)::
Individual income tax 1,359
Corporate income tax 348
Social Security and other payroll tax 959
Excise tax 88
Customs duties 33
Estate and gift taxes 13
Deposits of earnings and Federal Reserve System 80
Other miscellaneous receipts 21
Total $2,902 billions or 2.8 trillion
Total outlays by agency (in billions of dollars):Department of Defense including Overseas Contingency Operations 672.9
Department of Health and Human Services including Medicare and Medicaid 940.9
Department of Education 71.9
Department of Veterans Affairs 139.7
Department of Housing and Urban Development 46.3
Department of State and Other International Programs 59.5
Department of Homeland Security 55.4
Department of Energy 35.0
Department of Justice 36.5
Department of Agriculture 154.5
National Aeronautics and Space Administration 17.8
National Intelligence Program 52.6
Department of Transportation 98.5
Department of the Treasury 110.3
Department of the Interior 13.5
Department of Labor 101.7
Social Security Administration 882.7
Department of Commerce 9.0
Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works 8.2
Environmental Protection Agency 8.9
National Science Foundation 7.5
Small Business Administration 1.4
Corporation for National and Community Service 1.1
Net interest 246
Disaster costs 2
Other spending 1,270.5
Total 3,803 or 3.803 trillion