Re:Wages Are Finally Rising, 10 Years After the Recession
by creato on Saturday May 04, 2019 @08:51PM
(#19830390)
Funny, I'd say the chart that omits 2/3rds of the budget because it doesn't fall under a somewhat arbitrary label is the one that is deceptive.
There are no "mandatory taxes" or "discretionary taxes".
Re:Wages Are Finally Rising, 10 Years After the Recession
by soulofmischief on Saturday May 04, 2019 @09:49PM
(#19830596)
Surely you aren't suggesting the difference between discretionary and non-discretionary spending is "somewhat arbitrary". Pretty much every economist in the nation would disagree with you there.
https://www.nationalpriorities.org/budget-basics/federal-bud...
This only compares our actual discretionary budget, aka the money we are able to reappropriate as we see fit, which is not locked into specific channels.
This is the only comparison that makes sense; comparing a ratio of part of our discretionary budget against the entire discretionary+undiscretionary budget is not statistically sound.
And as you see in the chart I provided, in 2015 our military spending was over half of our available budget, compared to less about 1/5th of the budget being spent in total on social programs, which were like, I'm pretty sure, the point of a government.
Sure, the point of a government is also to defend its people from foreign invasion. But you can't justify our War budget that way when you consider how the money is mostly spent offensively, as we engage in countless proxy wars, paramilitary coups, and arms deals with totalitarian nations.
We've been hoodwinked.