America's Budget

I really don't understand why the government can get away with spending so much more than they earn every year. It seems like a simple concept. If you don't have the money, you can't spend it. This seems like a logical break down of the country's budget:


For this little expirement we will use last year's revenue:

2007 Taxes:

$2,568,000,000,000 (2.5 trillion dollars)


The government's spending can be broken down into 3 categories:
Mandatory (53% in 2007)
Discretionary (38% in 2007)
Interest (9% in 2007)


Mandatory Spending includes items that, by law, must be paid to individuals who meet certain requirements. (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc.)


Discretionary Spending includes all other items on which the federal government spends money. (Military, Congress, Highways, Education, etc.)


Interest is simply money paid on the national debt.
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So what should it be in 2009?

Assuming the taxes stay the same and the government has about 2.5 trillion dollars to work with...


Mandatory Spending
Social Security 24% $600 billion
Medicare 16% $400 billion
Medicaid 8% $200 billion
Other Mandatory Programs (disability, veteran's, unemployment) 12% $300 billion


Discretionary Spending
Education 4% $100 billion
Transportation 1% $25 billion
Defense 10% $250 billion
Government Salaries .5% $12.5 billion


Interest Payments
National Debt 24.5% $612.5 billion



Maybe that is an oversimplification, but I think we generally overcomplicate things.