American Public Thinks 50 Percent of the Federal Budget Is Wasted
by Dan MitchellSteve Moore of the Wall Street Journal has an excellent column today discussing new poll data showing that Americans think, on average, that 50 percent of the federal budget is wasted. As Steve explains, these numbers are very encouraging since they suggest that “Americans are in the mood for a radical shrinking of government in order to reduce debt and waste.” The bad news is that the 50 percent figure almost certainly is too high. Yes, government programs are riddled with waste, fraud, and abuse, but most of the money actually winds up in the hands of intended beneficiaries. The good news, though, is that this does not undermine the argument for dramatic reductions in the size and scope of the federal government. As this video explains, there are eight big reasons why government spending undermines economic growth.
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32 Comments
I believe there is huge misunderstanding going on between the two sides of Government. To avoid from being called a racist, lunatic, tea bagger, conspiracy theorist, and to avoid arguing, I came up with the Dummies Guide to Waking Up America.
http://mycityblog.net/2009/09/22/dummies-guide-to...
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by SavageNews and Juli . Juli said: American Public Thinks 50 Percent of the Federal Budget Is Wasted http://is.gd/3Biff [...]
Unfortunately, I don't think the 50% number says as much as they think. Those 50% probably have very different ideas about how the money is wasted. Some might even say that money is wasted on the military; others may cite welfare, medicare, etc. However, I do think that a very large percentage of Americans are beginning to wake up to the fact that government is way, way too large.
I would imagine that 50% figure is very low. This country spends money like they can just print it!! And thats what the idiots do.
Stop the presses and begin saving the country. Cut off most foreign aid. Stop financing the rebuilding of countries that force us to destroy parts to protect ourselves.
Slash congress payrole, it is not deserved.
Slash benefeits to those not maintaining a 10 yr presence.
The list goes on.
wasted, anybody notice, it took 1.4 billion, to hand out 1.6 billion in cash for clunkers? now that is efficiency. just a example of why government cannot do anything right. does anybody feel that the 50 percent number is low. well don't forget those cash for clunkers recipents will have no trade in value, pay sales tax on their handout, and next spring get to pay income tax on the handout, so the 1.6 billion will not all go out to the people it was intended to. then ponder just where the 3 billion came from, did it come from a money tree, or magic unicorns? no first they took it from taxpayers, then waved it front of thier faces as a hand out.
While Defense makes up a large portion of the budget, the 2 safety nets -Social Security and medicare- probably make up a large portion of the waste as these two programs alone eat up over 40% of the federal budget. Earmarks to current pet projects can go, as that's just a bunch of stupid waste.
Join our live chat, there is a FEED in the chat room to ALL of the Big Government topics, this way you can use Live Chat to communicate while keeping up on the News from Big Government while chatting LIVE
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Hope and Change boys and girls, hope and change!
Quite frankly, I HOPE we have the cajones to stand up and make the requisite CHANGE! It is not too late, but we are getting close. As I sit here watching Mohammur Qaddafi babbling incoherently at his forum at the UN, I can't help but wonder just what good this incipient fag has brought to the world arena. All he speaks about is the Black African son of Kenya, his brother Obama. I just can't wait until that little Kermit the Frog looking sumbitch Achmadenijad shows up for his annual fifteen minutes of fame.
Where is Ronald Reagan when we need him? It is high time WE send a missile up someones skirt! This country had better wake up!
Cut out waste? Fine, let's start with the goddamned United Nations. We need to pull out, pull our funding. Turn that high dollar office space into some new projects for ACORN members. While we are at it, cut off ALL foreign aid to EVERY foreign country. Lets be fair and make it equal, we need to include Israel. They are a smart bunch of savvy Jews, let them figure how to fund themselves.
These great unwashed, these sand fleas, these Affrikaners, these Muslims, these Socialist Latinos all hate our guts. We built the world; it is time to cut them loose………
Biggovernment: I've been here since day one, hour one. It is getting rather irritating that your censors do not post half the material I post here. Is it too inflamatory? Too blunt? Too truthful? Upset that I call a Spade a Spade? What started out as a good thing, might be going the other way. You are getting this website cluttered with too many ads, too much bullshit.
Remember: Keep it simple stoopid………..
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Just because the money goes to "intended beneficiaries" does NOT mean it is not wasted.
Agreed. Many or most of those "intended beneficiaries" have no business sucking on the taxpayer teat.
Just because the money reaches its intended target doesn't mean that money should have been sent out in the first place. 90% of what the federal government does is unconstitutional so the 50% waste figure is way too low.
The only way to get out of this crazy financial mess that this country is in is to get rid of all the career politicians.Acorn is a special interest just like unions.Why do you think Obama gives all his speeches to the AFL-CIO.Tens of billions to the UAW and SEIU.Not one dime to the businesses that employ the rest of us 88% of the workforce.
After every election people are always so angry about the results of the election that they just don't get the fact that they're responsible for those results.The far out spending is ok for their state but the other 49 states are at fault.
Congress legislates for special interest.The vast majority of congressman and senators are corrupt because of how they legislate.They legislate for whoever stuffs the most money into their campaign coffers. Because they bring the pork home they get re-elected.Because elections are rigged that way this country has been declining for years.This administration and congress have greatly accelerated that process.
The only way we have of having even a small chance of getting back on track is to vote out all incumbants.Get rid of the career politicians and you put a major crimp in the influence of all special interest.Then we need eight year and your out term limits.
“I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.”
~ James Madison (1751-1836)
I can't say that 50% is an encouraging number here, but it sure could be a whole lot worse.
So many have become so dependent on government that it is increasingly challenging to even try to shake the nation free from a basically pro-government stance in practice. This is the sort of attitude that the left encourages and builds upon with every new government program.
http://firebreathingchristian.com
I can't say that 50% is an encouraging number here, but it sure could be a whole lot worse.
So many have become so dependent on government that it is increasingly challenging to even try to shake the nation free from a basically pro-government stance in practice. This is the sort of attitude that the left encourages and builds upon with every new government program.
http://firebreathingchristian.com
Test….
Whew, glad this site still works. I got booted off Big Hollywood…….
They are not interpretting the data correctly. They say that more than 50% of budget dollars make it to intended beneficiaries but they do not account for the fact that Americans think those intended beneficiaries shouldn't be getting the money in the first place. THAT is also part of the waste… Vote out the members of the Progressive Caucus and we will clean out 70% of the corruption in Washington.
After reading other posts… I find that many agree with me… We need to band together and relieve America from the core of corruption from OUR government: The Congressional Progressive Caucus. They chair 11 of 20 committees and many have been in office for DECADES. Carve out the corruption in 2010!
There is no question that we feel our government is wasting our money. We need to take a stand and our chance is with The Free Enterprise Nation (http://www.TheFreeEnterpriseNation.org). It's our only hope to represent ourselves and our money.
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I would say that 50% is low. Even after removing the pork spending, government in general tends to spend much more than private industry would simply because of the bureaucracy involved. Shuffling paper between all the various layers adds up quickly.
What is really funny is that this article illustrates how uninformed we really are as a nation. Perhaps this would explain the Obama election? Not that McCain would have been any better…..
Breitbart; It might be a wise move to sue ACORN and all of its affiliates of misuse of taxpayer funds under the whistle blower law…. Then the government has the option of joining in the lawsuit….. (which this administration will not do) but would put them in a tough place and also allow to be compensated for attorney fees…
[...] Wednesday, a video was posted explaining the theoretical reasons why excessive government spending hurts growth. Just in time [...]
[...] Wednesday, a video was posted explaining the theoretical reasons why excessive government spending hurts growth. Just in time [...]
it's just like advertising: 50% of your ad spend is a waste of money — you just don't know which 50% it is.
Thanks for this info, I really enjoyed reading it!
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