Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Do YOU know the general U.S. Budget?

I am not talking about how much money the Department of Education gets. I am talking about general categories, like Medicare, debt service, Defense, non-defense discretionary? Well, as Reason Magazine Reports, most Americans have a basic understanding the budget and the relative amounts the government spends on big budget categories:
Zogby has a Family Feud-type poll in which respondents are asked to give a factual estimate of known statistics. How well can people guess the spending percentages in the federal budget?

Better than you might have expected. Although there were traditional overestimates such as the foreign aid budget, majorities of the 2,068 people polled were in or near the ballpark on defense and Medicare/Medicaid, and a large minority was close enough for government work on Social Security.
Here are the categories that were asked:

Social Security
Medicare/Medicaid
Defense
Foreign Aid
Education
Assistance to Low income families
Interest on Debt
Non-discretionary domestic spending.

What percentage of the U.S. budget goes to each of those categories? I was low on non-discretionary spending and education and long on Social Security and Debt interest.

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