News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on U.S. Treasury Data Lab. Parent comment

Re:U.S. Treasury Data Lab by jkhdigital on Tuesday September 14, 2021 @09:42PM (#28534157)
The problem with unconstrained government deficit finance is not inflation, it is cronyism and corruption. When 638 individuals decide how $3 trillion gets spent, almost any amount of lobbying expense will yield a positive NPV.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:U.S. Treasury Data Lab by adventured on Tuesday September 14, 2021 @10:46PM (#28534625)
> When 638 individuals decide how $3 trillion gets spent

Just a small correction. Federal Government spending was $4.4 trillion in 2019. It was $6.6t for 2020 [2], with $4.6t of that being mandatory spending; tax revenue was $3.4t for 2020 by comparison. We wish outlays were only $3t, we'd have a nice budget surplus right now.

[1] https://www.cbo.gov/publication/56324

[2] https://www.cbo.gov/publication/57170

[ Parent | on HN ]