From The American Prospect, based on an Economist/YouGov poll
Over at The American Prospect, Tim Fernholz notes:
[W]hatever the problems with our political system, we do a decent job allocating public resources into programs that people like. Complaints about "big government" and excessive spending are more often based on who is getting the money -- the poor and minorities often inspire the most ire -- rather than the fact that spending is happening at all, despite the framing that conservatives would like to impose on the discussion.
The poll also suggests that people believe government has a role to play in making society better. You can also see why it's so hard, politically, to cut the budget. The programs we're most willing to cut are the ones that take the least amount of money in the first place. Most people are willing to take a chunk out of foreign aid, for example -- and it's less than one percent of the federal budget.
(H/T @JamilSmith)
Leave a Comment:
Based on the graph above, does that mean the defense department budget will be cut? Most likely not. Naturally as we draw down forces in Iraq in August and Afghanistan in July 2011, one would think that the overall defense budget should decline by those expenditures, which may save approximately $100B /year. Sadly enough even with the expiration of a portion of the Bush tax cuts and the above described reductions in the defense budget, according the CBO the federal govt will still have a $1 Trillion annual budget deficit in 2011 and leave us with approx. $500B/annual budget deficits for the next 10 years. Solving this systemic problem is key to strength of our currency, the health of our economy and standard of living that we have taken for granted.
i agree, CommonSense, but doesn't all of this swirl right into the whirlpool's vortex of how left middle, center, or right of socialism do we get before we start socializing with anyone who cares more about people than the pocketbook? i realize we've gone too far to really ascertain the possible benefits any kind of tribal culture with common sense might provide, and i see that the fight will be one of millions if not billions of people with little against thousands of people with more than anyone needs. i realize it's the ego and it can't be helped, but just as i assert that the incredible number of lawyers and realtors hasn't made law or the housing market any better, i believe that the growth of government is not as much the issue as growth of human spirit. There's a cancer running rampant in our communities like the bubonic plague, one that grows tumors with the toxins ingested through the mouth, nose, ears, and eyes. It's either "You can be the richest," that everyone eats, drinks, or snorts, or "We can be more than just SOCIAL!" But it's the first that gets the healthcare. We can care more about one another than we do about how powerful we are individually. The United States of America has become the United States of Narcissism. my counterparts assure me that socialism has failed in every aspect by every society that has ever dared try it (in one ridiculously naive way or another), but how's that capitalisty, money-makey thing working out for everyone here after little more than 200 years? That's little more than 3 lifetimes of very able thinkers trying (ineptly I'm afraid) to think with their bean counters rather than with their minds. Every time things get good, we expect they can and should be better. Every time things get bad, we feel sorry for ourselves and play the blame game. Spoiled and selfish are we? You're damned right!!!
You hit the nail on the head at the end there. It all boils down to our selfish culture, in my opinion. The attitude tends to be "cut government spending that doesn't affect me, but don't put your hands on my government money".
I agree. It's just a version of that old political saying: Don't tax me and don't tax thee, tax that fella behind the tree.
Why is it selfish culture. I work so I may have things. Those that don't work shouldn't get anything.
Okay, let's say you've been laid off from your job and the economy is such that you won't get another job in the next 18 months. Now you shouldn't get anything. Isn't that right?
So, those who don't work, should just die then? Sheesh...
It's not some much that people are selfish, just infantile and bigoted.
Generally, the only people that speak in such absolute terms have never been hungry, or homeless, or physically disabled, or discriminated against, or wrongfully imprisoned, or ill, or anything else along those lines.
Or maybe they have, but were able to 'rise above'. Some people are unable to 'fix' their problems, due to the above reason or reasons, without help. Circumstances are different for everyone.
Even though many of these people are countless laps behind in the race, they still run. Maybe not as fast as some would like, but they still run. And to make matters worse, year after year, the race track gets bigger and bigger, so that all hope of catching the leader gets less and less.
And there is no doubt in my mind that when the end comes and all this 'stuff' that people hold so dear is gone, they will have no idea what to do? Where will you be without your 200+ channels to watch, or the big screen LCD TV to watch it on? What will you do then? Maybe you can ask the people you trash on now for help because they'll still be around.
Humanism before Consumerism.
Wal-mart will not save you.