We’ve all heard a lot about it these days. It really is doom and gloom as critics point out that the cuts just won’t go deep enough to avert an economic Apocalypse. Raise taxes some say. Cut spending others say. Don’t raise the debt ceiling, said a few angry and hardcore Tea Partiers.
But where is all the money going? What’s being spent and how much can really be cut? Is there a gravy train that requires Washington to dial up the “Brothers Ford” . Well, the New York Times, in their clever and innovative way, have sought to break it all down with this amazing interactive graphic.
Below I’ve clipped an image. Click on it and go to the Time’s site. There you’ll be able to interact with Obama’s 2011 budget. It’s pretty damn nifty. Couple initial observations:
1) They’re spending as much on National Defense ($738 billion) as they are on Social Security
2) Education (ie preparing the young for their bright futures – where they’ll continue to pay the elderly’s medicare, medicaid and social insurance bills) gets $122 billion – that’s like 16% of defense funding and that’s with a Democratic president.
3) They cut Space funding by 20%! What the hell – how are we ever going to accomplish George W Bush’s goal of getting to Mars now?
2Pac changed my life. Well — not really. I’m being dramatic. It’s more like he changed the pace of my life, or rather, he’s become a reminder that I need slow things down just a little. Allow me to explain. A’ight?