26th July
2008
In very rough numbers (good enough for government work) for 2009:
US GDP: $15 trillion
Federal Government spends 20% = $3 trillion
Breakdown of the $3 trillion
- 20% Defense
- 20% Medicare/Medicaid
- 20% Social Security
- 10% Interest on Debt
- 30% Everything else
The full budget (and historical trends) is available online. Despite the din, not much has changed. The inexorable rise of medicare / social security continues, though. Medicare and social security represented 20% of the federal budget in 1971. Today they represent 40% and growing…