Ten years ago, the nation’s future fiscal health seemed assured: an economic boom and the lack of significant external threats created budget surpluses. In 2001 the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) even projected that over the next decade the nation would enjoy a $5.6 trillion surplus. Politicians gleefully debated how to best utilize the windfall, ultimately … Read more
The U.S. federal government is by far the largest single entity in the world. As of fiscal year 2009, its expenditures of $3.6 trillion exceeded those of the second and third biggest governments combined. This largely reflects the size of the American economy, itself the largest on the planet. Federal spending has grown by about … Read more
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began this year claiming, “The United States seeks a safer, more prosperous, more democratic and more equitable world.” Her words reflect the State Department’s emphasis on cooperation and diplomacy as a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy. The 2011 foreign aid budget is nominally based on a “3D” approach to U.S. … Read more
It is often said or assumed that Social Security is headed toward bankruptcy. A recent Gallup poll showed that 60 percent of American workers do not believe Social Security will be able to pay them benefits when they retire. Yet for over two decades, no significant changes have been made to the federal entitlement program … Read more
It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that spending in the United States on health care – both by individuals and by the government – has skyrocketed past the growth in the U.S. gross domestic product. The Congressional Budget Office reported that health care spending accounted for 15 percent of GDP in 2010, up … Read more
Receipts Personal Income Tax Since the passage of the Sixteenth Amendment in 1913, the personal income tax has provided the federal government’s single largest source of revenue. The tax consists of six brackets, levying progressively higher rates on higher levels of income. For example, a taxpayer earning $5,000 of taxable income per year would pay … Read more
“Today does not mark the end of our economic troubles. Nor does it constitute all of what we must do to turn our economy around. But it does mark the beginning of the end.” With these words in Feb. 2009, President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the … Read more
When America’s founders gathered at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, they did so in large part to raise taxes to finance a national military. Since then, defense spending has been a priority in the federal budget. As America’s role in the world expanded, so did American military expenditures – amounting to nearly $720 billion in … Read more
In Stutsman County, North Dakota, local authorities are quite literally unpaving their roads. Unable to pay for repaving of deteriorated rural roads, counties across the country have resorted to replacing asphalt with gravel or other rough surfaces as a way to save money. Click to See Full Graphic This does not bode well for the … Read more
Natoma Canfield is a 50-year-old cancer patient in Cleveland, Ohio. In 2009 she paid some $10,000 in deductibles after her insurance premiums increased 25 percent. Unable to sustain an additional 40 percent rate hike in 2010, she dropped her coverage, and has since been diagnosed with leukemia. Click for full graphic On his final health … Read more