47% of your Federal Income Tax Dollar is Military (Or Related) Spending!

[JanMichael]

Or:

"How The "Unified Budget" Makes You Think Otherwise"

Of course the sneaky liars will say it's 17.5% but that's a misrepresentation.

http://www.warresisters.org/piechart.htm

HOW THESE FIGURES WERE DETERMINED

"War Resisters League creates this leaflet each year after the President releases a proposed budget. The figures here are from a line-by-line analysis of projected figures in the “Analytical Perspectives” book of the Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2004. The percentages are federal funds, which do not include trust funds such as Social Security that are raised and spent separately from income taxes. What you pay (or don’t pay) by April 15, 2003, goes only to the federal funds portion of the budget. The government practice of combining trust and federal funds (the so-called “Unified Budget”) began in the 1960s during the Vietnam War. The government presentation makes the human needs portion of the budget seem larger and the military portion smaller."

So 47 cents of every one of those dollars goes to the military? Yikes...Almost makes us seem like some imperialistic, violent, nation, nah, that can't be.

[treeslive]

1. "80% of the interest on the debt"

Why not 90%? Heck, why not 100%??

If your a group has a solid position, why tweak the figures? They should stand all by themselves without massaging. Just my opinion.

[JanMichael]

2. Any other criticism?

Or just a nitpick?

The big picture is the use of the Unified Budget.

[treeslive]

3. well, when someone

has to tweak numbers to validate their argument, I get real suspicious and automatically tune it out. Remember, figures don't lie, but liars can figure. I'm not saying their lying, I'm not saying their not.

[JanMichael]

4. It isn't "tweaking" IMO, it's explained.

""Current military” spending adds together money allocated for the Dept. of Defense ($371 billion) plus the military portion from other parts of the budget. Spending on nuclear weapons (without their delivery systems) amounts to about 1% of the total budget. “Past military” represents veterans’ benefits plus 80% of the interest on the debt. Analysts differ on how much of the debt stems from the military; other groups estimate 50% to 60%. We use 80% because we believe if there had been no military spending most (if not all) of the national debt would have been eliminated. The government willingly borrows for war, but finds nothing extra for crises in human needs."

Hardly a reason to discount the entire concept. Those numbers are almost insignificant in the non-Unified Budget.

Once again, they explained their predicament with that particular number.

Obviously you can do whatever you wish but the overall idea is sound IMO.