Best place in the city for impoverished white people? (Burlington: home, school)

[mycrows]

Originally Posted by urza216

Here's another one (I picked these up from a quick Google search of "Federal Budget"):

I think you're hurting your own case, because that's just the discretionary spending pie chart. Mandatory spending is a much bigger part of the federal budget than discretionary.

The point is that military spending overwhelmingly eclipses spending on social services.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by urza216

And how does this compare to the small amount of money that goes to Welfare and other social programs?

Way to shift the goalposts.

[urza216]

Originally Posted by mycrows

The point is that military spending overwhelmingly eclipses spending on social services.

Exactly.

[Drover]

It's evident you two don't have a clue how much is spent on social services.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by Drover

Nice random pie chart. Meanwhile, the actual figure from the OMB (http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2011/assets/defense.pdf - broken link) is 532 billion -- or 1/3rd of what you claim it is.

Thanks and have a nice day.

It's up to $653 billion now... But that's just the budget for the Department of Defense. We also spend billions more on the military of the past, including a large chunk of our national debt interest and benefits for veterans. Other government departments (such as the State Department) spend significant amounts on our war efforts outside of the Department of Defense. And the current wars have emergency spending measures that are budgeted under $40 billion per year, although Congress has been approving actual emergency war spending closer to $200 million per year. At this point in time, it's entirely possible that military-related spending is over a trillion per year--though you'll never see a number in any OMB document that is comprehensive enough to track these complexities.

[mycrows]

Originally Posted by Drover

It's evident you two don't have a clue how much is spent on social services.

Guess it depends how you define social services, but what do you think the figure is? By the way, the number you cited for military spending probably doesn't include benefits to veterans, the portion of the national debt incurred by past military expenditures and non-Department of Defense spending on the military.

[Drover]

The current mandatory spending budget is 2.1 trillion dollars. Social Security alone is 700 billion, Medicare is another 400 billion, Medicaid another 300 billion, and another 500 billion or so on food stamps, unemployment, child nutrition tax credits, SSDI and the like. And that's just at the federal level.

[Snowden Is Cold]

Originally Posted by Drover

Nice random pie chart. Meanwhile, the actual figure from the OMB (http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2011/assets/defense.pdf - broken link) is 532 billion -- or 1/3rd of what you claim it is.

Thanks and have a nice day.

I don't believe that number includes veterans benefits, payments to the national debt (of which over 50% is due to defense spending), and other hidden defense related spending:

The Trillion-Dollar Defense Budget Is Already Here

Note also that when people say that it accounts for over 50% they are excluding social security (20%) since that is a payroll tax and not an income tax.

Edit: Lookout Kid beat me to it.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by Drover

The current mandatory spending budget is 2.1 trillion dollars. Social Security alone is 700 billion, Medicare is another 400 billion, Medicaid another 300 billion, and another 500 billion or so on food stamps, unemployment, child nutrition tax credits, SSDI and the like. And that's just at the federal level.

Social Security is supposedly a "trust fund" that is taxed and exists seperately from the budget. But since the participation and taxation are mandatory, I can see how some might consider it part of the federal budget.

[Avengerfire]

Wow