David Wessel of the Wall Street Journal reported:
- Last year 63% of the federal budget was spent without a vote of Congress – auto pilot spending for promises made in the past. The federal government spent 9.5% of the federal budget on heathcare in 1960, 25% in 2012, and the CBO predicts 33% in a decade.
- If we fired every federal employee we would only make a small dent in the deficit. Most of the money that the government collects gets paid out in benefits, state and local government grants and contracts.
- 20% of the federal budget is now spent on defense, last year more than the next 17 largest defense budgets combined. Each aircraft carrier cost 11 billion.
- Interest on the national debt was 6% of all federal spending last year.
- Federal tax burden was 19% in 1979, 14% in 2007 and lower now. The federal budget is $3.6 trillion. The feds took in 1.3 trillion in tax revenues last year, but the values of loopholes, deductions, etc is estimated at $1.1 trillion.
Read the full article at http://www.pbs.org/newshour/businessdesk/2012/10/david-wessel-on-viriginia-germ.html