If 50% of our tax dollars go to the Military

[tinanator]

How much services the debt?

[politicaholic]

1. 0%...

that's why it's rising.

[Jacobin]

3. Rong

25% goes for interest on the 8 trillion debt, although there hasn't been a principle reduction since Clinton left office





In FY04 the U. S. Government spent $322 Billion of your money on interest payments* to the holders of the National Debt. Compare that to NASA at $15 Billion, Education at $61 Billion, and Department of Transportation at $56 Billion. For FY2005, the total is already $167 Billion.

http://web.ask.com/redir?u=http%3A%2F%2Ftm.wc.ask.com%2Fr%3Ft%3Dan%26s%3Da%26sv%3Dza5cb0dc0%26uid%3D08EC4AB1014800614%26sid%3D1B9B26EDFE00CD524%26o%3D10234%26qid%3D3167993589A7004B9384BA0E12525531%26io%3D0%26ask%3Dhow%2Bmuch%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bfederal%2Bbudget%2Bgoes%2Bto%2Bpay%2Binterest%2Bon%2Bthe%2Bnational%2Bdebt%26uip%3D4321d898%26en%3Dte%26eo%3D-100%26pt%3DFederal%2520Budget%2520Spending%2520and%2520the%2520National%2520Debt%26ac%3D24%26qs%3D0%26pg%3D1%26ep%3D1%26te_par%3D217%26te_id%3D%26u%3Dhttp%253a%252f%252fwww.federalbudget.com%252f&bpg=http%3A%2F%2Fweb.ask.com%2Fweb%3Fq%3Dhow%2Bmuch%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bfederal%2Bbudget%2Bgoes%2Bto%2Bpay%2Binterest%2Bon%2Bthe%2Bnational%2Bdebt%26o%3D10234%26page%3D1&q=how%20much%20of%20the%20federal%20budget%20goes%20to%20pay%20interest%20on%20the%20national%20debt&s=a&bu=http%3a%2f%2fwww.federalbudget.com%2f&qte=0&o=10234&abs=The%20interest%20expense%20on%20the%20National%20Debt%20is%20the%20third%20largest%20expense%20in%20the%20federal%20budget.&tit=Federal%20Budget%20Spending%20and%20the%20National%20Debt&bin=&cat=wb&purl=http%3A%2F%2Ftm.wc.ask.com%2Fi%2Fb.html%3Ft%3Dan%26s%3Da%26uid%3D08EC4AB1014800614%26sid%3D1B9B26EDFE00CD524%26qid%3D3167993589A7004B9384BA0E12525531%26io%3D%26sv%3Dza5cb0dc0%26o%3D10234%26ask%3Dhow%2Bmuch%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bfederal%2Bbudget%2Bgoes%2Bto%2Bpay%2Binterest%2Bon%2Bthe%2Bnational%2Bdebt%26uip%3D4321d898%26en%3Dbm%26eo%3D-100%26pt%3D%26ac%3D28%26qs%3D0%26pg%3D1%26u%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fmyjeeves.ask.com%2Faction%2Fsnip&Complete=1

[politicaholic]

5. You're right, I didn't see "servicing" the loan, I thought the posting...

said toward the debt.

whoops

[Yupster]

9. Where's medicare and medicaid?

I thought they were # 2 and # 3 in costs?

[DelawareValleyDem]

26. I believe it falls under Health & Human Services nt

[KamaAina]

11. That site where the bar chart lives is a little scary

http://www.federalbudget.com

Its author refers to human services spending as "socialism", and favors a constitutional convention for a Balanced Budget Amendment. Trouble is, once such a convention is called (and only six more states need to ratify!), there'd be nothing stopping the theocrats and totalitarians from, say, gutting the Bill of Rights (leaving the Second of course)... :scared:

edit: The chart itself rocks, however. Basically the budget breaks down like this: DoD (war), Treasury (interest on past wars), HHS (Medicare), SSA (conveniently off-budget) -- and the new Department of Everything Else; all are roughly the same size.

[sendero]

12. Take notice people..

.... we are spending 25% of our budget on debt service.

Imagine if you were spending 25% of your income on interest payments. It boggles the mind, and it looks like it's only going up from here.

[Mr. Flibble]

15. And if insurance companies and quack doctors were regulated,

The COST for health services would go down big-time.

There is no crisis.

Only greed and irresponsibility. Wholesome American values... if we lived in Bizarroworld.

[bvar22]

27. Thanks for the chart, Jacobin.

Is ther a breakdown in the budget for:

Corporate Welfare?

Farm subsidies (Farm Welfare)?

Funding for Emergencies (hurricanes, floods etc)?

I'm interested in these amounts to compare with the Social Welfare Programs.

[RawMaterials]

2. they don't pay debt they just print more money

and back it with t-bills, iou's basically.

[patrice]

4. 12% according to an article in Sunday's Parade.

But then they had military spending at only 21% - and something else called Other at 19% which they never explained.

That article did some discussion of spending Priorities - to its credit:
Science vs. the Arts
Business vs. Safety
Abstinence vs. Adoption
Fighting drugs vs. Alcohol abuse
Nuclear energy vs. Other energy sources
Space exploration for war or peace?
Rebuilding Iraq vs. Rebuilding America.

[punpirate]

6. Right now...

... the annual payment on interest on the debt amounts to roughly $330 billion and is steadily climbing. The crimp that puts on the ability to pay for social services is considerable.

If one adds up all the appropriations for defense-related items--the normal defense budget, the costs of all the intelligence services, so-called homeland security costs over and above the former costs of individual agencies, defense-related R&D monies, the portions of the defense budget hidden in other agencies and the supplemental war appropriations which are off-budget (and therefore go directly into debt), the total is getting pretty close to $600 billion per year.

That means that the entirety of the rest of the discretionary budget (social services, cost of running the government, foreign aid, non-defense research, VA costs, farm support, etc.) is about $300 billion.

Disheartening, to say the least.

[RawMaterials]

7. we need a revolution new Constitution and a return

to the gold standard. :) Plus good education, and less distractions from life. Just my 2 Pennies :beer:

[punpirate]

8. Well, as for those points...

... we probably don't need a gold standard again (there simply isn't enough gold in the world to manage world finances), we do need good education, but that has been thwarted by federal reductions in corporate income taxes (which affects state tax receipts and the ability of the states to fund public education).

As for a new Constitution, we simply need to adhere to the one we were provided.

It's instructive to look at Article 1, Section 8 of that document. Spending for standing armies was discouraged (much more of the section is devoted to militias--the National Guard and Reserves of today), and military spending appropriations were not to exceed two years--to discourage the sort of national security state we've now become (a provision, I might add, which has never been repealed, and has been completely ignored in the long-term funding of new weapons systems).

The problem lies not with our Constitution, but with our corruptible leaders--whom we continue to put into office, year after year after expensive year.

[chlamor]

10. Where Your Tax Dollars Really Go

Current Military, $558B:Military Personnel $109B, Operation and Maintenance $154B, Procurement $81B, Research and Development $68B, Construction $7B, Family Housing $4B, Retired Pay $46B, DoE Nuclear Weapons $17B, NASA (50%) $8B, International Security $8B, Homeland Sec. (50%) $16B, Ex. Off. Pres. $78, Misc. $4B, “Allowance for Anticipated Supplemental” (Iraq) $25B
UNBUDGETTED: $85B (est.):Most of the spending for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is not included in the President’s Budget but the Administration has announced it will seek this money as supplemental appropriations later in year as it has in the past two years

Past Military, $384B: Veterans’ Benefits $70B; Interest on National Debt (80% estimated to be created by military spending) $314B

Human Resources, $722B: Education, Health/Human Services, HUD, Food/Nutrition programs, Labor Department, Soc. Sec. Admin.

General Government, $261B: Legislative, Justice, State Dept., International Affairs, Treasury, Gov’t. Personnel, 20% interest on national debt, NASA (50%), Homeland Security (25%)

Physical Resources, $120B: Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, Interior, Transportation, Environmental Protection, Army Corps Engineers, NSF, FCC, Homeland Security (25%)
HOW THESE FIGURES WERE DETERMINED

These figures are from a line-by-line analysis of detailed tables in the “Analytical Perspectives” book of the Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2006. 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, 2005, goes to the federal funds portion of the budget. The government practice of combining trust and federal funds began in the 1960s during the Vietnam War, thus making the human needs portion of the budget seem larger and the military portion smaller.

“Current military” includes Dept. of Defense ($427 billion), the military portion from other departments ($106 billion), anticipated “supplemental allowance” ($25 billion), and an unbudgetted estimate of supplemental appropriations ($85 billion). “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. For further explanation, see box at bottom of this page

The Government Deception

The pie chart below is the government view of the budget. This is a distortion of how our income tax dollars are spent because it includes Trust Funds (e.g., Social Security), and the expenses of past military spending are not distinguished from nonmilitary spending. For a more accurate representation of how your Federal income tax dollar is really spent, see the large chart (above).



www.warresisters.org

[Yupster]

20. To me the scary part

is that 50 % of the spending goes to medicare, medicaid, interest on the debt and social security.

Those are all things that just happen. The congress really has no control over half the budget, and that portion is growing each year.

I don't get the attributing the debt 80 % to the military because if there wasn't any military spending there'd be no debt.

I guess that's true, but you could say the same thing about any other major budget item.

Blame the debt on the poor, because if there weren't any medicaid payments, there'd be no debt.

Blame the debt on the old because if the government didn't send out social security checks, there'd be no debt.

The debt is here because we spend more than we take in. Why pick one item rather than any other to blame other than you just don't like that one item?

[tinanator]

22. health care vs death/mass murder imperial aggression expenses

WHY?

I know you just wrote the driest, most sarcastic post Ive ever read.
right?

[tinanator]

23. kicking for the taxpayer

happy ides of april

[tinanator]

24. somebody got real quiet here

can i get a response please?

[Massacure]

13. It's not 50% military.

The budget is about 2.4 trillion dollars. 600 billion of that is for the military, and about 300 billion for the debt.

$300 billion dollars could pay for 20% of America's healthcare though. Perhaps more if the government socializes it, makes it more efficient, and reduces profits.

[JanMichael]

14. Servicing the health needs of three generations of soldiers is what's not

...included in the "Military" part of the bogus "Unified Budget".

IIRC once those numbers are added in then the Military is indeed near 50% of our entire Federal Budget.

I could be mistaken however.

[Massacure]

16. Doesn't that fall under medicaid and medicair ?

I'm pretty sure that has it's own fund somewhere, but I see your point.

[chlamor]

17. Take note of

above post with pie chart. Actual figure is 52%. There are many other black budget and militarized corporate research programs not included. This is the Warfare State. The central force of the American economy is based on violence.


Past Military, $384B: Veterans’ Benefits $70B; Interest on National Debt (80% estimated to be created by military spending) $314B


The Government Deception

The pie chart below is the government view of the budget. This is a distortion of how our income tax dollars are spent because it includes Trust Funds (e.g., Social Security), and the expenses of past military spending are not distinguished from nonmilitary spending. For a more accurate representation of how your Federal income tax dollar is really spent, see the large chart (above).

http://www.nwtrcc.org/taxday2005.htm

[chlamor]

18. No more tax dollars for war

No More Tax Dollars to War!
Protest on Tax Day, Friday, April 15, 2005
Activities are on April 15, unless otherwise noted

If your group is having a tax day event protesting the military use of U.S. tax dollars and would like it listed, please email the NWTRCC office at [e-mail]. Call or email time and place updates too. If there is no contact information for an event you wish to attend, contact the NWTRCC office at 800-269-7464 or by email. Return to NWTRCC homepage

Arizona

Tucson — Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Local Chapter. [e-mail]. Leafletting at the Sun Station Post Office.

California

Berkeley — Northern California War Tax Resistance. [phone] or [e-mail] or http://www.nowartax.org. People's Life Fund Granting Ceremony  and Dessert Potluck presenting redirection grants to 12 community organizations. 2220 Sacramento St. (Near No. Bkly. BART). Thursday, April 14, 7-9 pm.

<snip>

New Hampshire

Manchester — Leafletting and asking folks to join us in not paying federal income taxes. Main Post Office, 955 Coffs Falls Rd. 11 am to midnight. [e-mail]

Portsmouth — Demonstrators dressed as members of the Bush Administration will be holding signs reading “We found the weapons of mass destruction — they're in the President’s budget!” and passing out flyers, 9 am to 5 pm, main post office, Seacoast Peace Response, Jamilla El-Shafei, [e-mail]

New Mexico

Albuquerque — Albuquerque War Tax Alternative Fund. [phone]. Penny poll and leafleting at weekly anti-war vigil in front of bookstore at the University of NM and leafleting at the main post office. 11 am - 1 pm.

Silver City — Progressive Forum of SW New Mexico. [e-mail]. Teach-in at town park about how the Iraq war is funded.

New York

Ithaca — Ithaca War Tax Resisters. [e-mail]. Vigil at the post office.

New York City — NYC War Resisters League ([e-mail], 718-768-7306) and NYC War Tax Resistance. Leafletting, vigiling, and other actions at Manhattan IRS office (110 W. 44th Street, just west of Sixth Ave.) from noon to 2 pm.

White Plains — NoWar Westchester, [e-mail]. Share coffee with last minute tax filers, leaflet and discuss how 48% of our federal income taxes pay for past, present, and future wars. 5 pm to closing.

http://www.nwtrcc.org/taxday2005.htm

[tinanator]

19. Thanks Chlamor!

Nice avatar, I just got done watching the second half of Baby Snakes. Appreciate your posting.

[wookie294]

21. We spent $321 billion to service the debt in 2004

America paid $321 billion in interest on the debt in 2004. Interest on the debt is a huge government expense. It is one of the government's biggest "programs." I think the Pentagon's budget in 2004 was around $450 billion, so the interest on the debt almost equals the total monies spend on the Pentagon.

http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opdint.htm

[dcfirefighter]

25. It's constructive to compare

During the height of the British Empire, the awesome Royal Navy was stronger than the next two Navies in existence at that time.

Comparing Expenditures: http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/mil_exp_dol_fig (old numbers, sorry, it's even worse now)

We spend more than the next 9 countries combined. These countries include France, Germany, Japan, UK, and Italy, countries we are highly unlikely to war against.

Spending more than the next two countries would be about $120B, less than a third of what we spend now.