Weekend reading: The US government’s budget

The New York Times did an analysis of US government expenditures that I’m still thinking about.

The annual budget is $7 trillion.  Try and get your head around that number.

Here are the two illustrations I think deserve a close look.

The expenditures in color are fixed; they cannot be cut.  The only more easily cuttable expenses are the ones in grey.  But those are the ones that make life better for all of us.

And take a look at this one.

What this tells us is that if the entire government workforce were fired, it would only reduce federal expenditures by 4.3 percent.

This is why tax cuts for the rich make no sense and are deeply unfair.

For more on this topic

The US government’s guide to federal spending

According to the Constitution’s Preamble, the purpose of the federal government is “…to establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.” These goals are achieved through government spending.