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Politics : GOPwinger Lies/Distortions/Omissions/Perversions of Truth -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (143527)	10/27/2008 8:55:15 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 173976

Where does the medicare drug program, which is mandated against price controls (and therefore overpays multifold for drugs) fall in your description- is it a "transfer"? Its a borderline case, the money isn't sent directly to the individuals, it pays for their health care. I probably wouldn't have a problem whether you want to categorize it as a transfer payment or whether you don't. Same with blackwater, halliburton and other corporate interests, where do those fall according to you? Halliburton, and Blackwater are companies that sell the government services. That isn't a transfer program "Other coporate interests" is far too broad to give a definitive answer, but some of the money (most of the farm subsidies and price supports for example, but it goes beyond that) is clearly corporate welfare. That money isn't just to the rich, but it can reasonably be said it goes to them more than anyone else. OTOH while a horrble use of government money on multiple levels, and while far too large IMO, its a lot less than the government transfers and subsidies that are either targeted at the poor, or at the "working poor", or that are broad based. The reason you can't account for the 5 trillion is because it went to large corporate interests. Most of it didn't. The biggest spending category is subsidies or transfers to/for individuals. Also a lot of the money that does go to corporations is for goods and services from those corporations. Which doesn't mean there isn't outright giveaways to corporations, and I join you in opposition to them, but they are not a big fraction of the budget. * $644 billion - Social Security * $408 billion - Medicare * $224 billion - Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) * $360 billion - Unemployment/Welfare/Other mandatory spending * $260 billion - Interest on National Debt * $515.4 billion - United States Department of Defense * $145.2 billion(2008) - Global War on Terror $70.4 billion - United States Department of Health and Human Services * $59.2 billion - United States Department of Education * $44.8 billion - United States Department of Veterans Affairs * $38.5 billion - United States Department of Housing and Urban Development * $38.3 billion - State and Other International Programs * $37.6 billion - United States Department of Homeland Security * $25.0 billion - United States Department of Energy * $20.8 billion - United States Department of Agriculture * $20.3 billion - United States Department of Justice * $17.6 billion - National Aeronautics and Space Administration * $12.5 billion - United States Department of the Treasury * $11.5 billion - United States Department of Transportation * $10.6 billion - United States Department of the Interior * $10.5 billion - United States Department of Labor * $8.4 billion - Social Security Administration * $7.1 billion - United States Environmental Protection Agency * $6.9 billion - National Science Foundation * $6.3 billion - Judicial branch (United States federal courts) * $4.7 billion - Legislative branch (United States Congress) * $4.7 billion - United States Army Corps of Engineers * $0.4 billion - Executive Office of the President * $0.7 billion - Small Business Administration * $7.2 billion - Other agencies * $39.0 billion(2008*) - Other Off-budget Discretionary Spending en.wikipedia.org Look at the size of the broad based, or targeted to the poor transfers and subsidies. The biggest chunk of them are the entitlements at the top, they amount to over half the budget. The giveaways to the rich (and I'm defining the rich broadly, or it would be even less). Well you have a big chunk of agriculture's budget (farm subsidies), some of the SBA's, and some of "Other agencies" (it seems the Department of Commerce is placed in this category). You want to campaign against this spending, much of which is corporate welfare? Fine I'll join you. But entitlements are where the big money is (and will be even more so in the future), and they are broad based or targeted at the poor.