CBO Blog

[tongodeon]

If you subscribe to only one RSS feed this week, make it congbudgetoffic (rss). The stuff he writes about is not only topical but the definition of well-grounded, since for better or worse the CBO is about as nonpartisan and credible as sources get for no-BS perspectives on what's going on.

In particular this post, short and sweet, flogs the same issue that I've

Comments

[grouchyoldcoot]

So what's 'Other'? I got the impression from your earlier graph that things like NSF, NIH, NASA, etc., plus foreign aid didn't add up to anything like 25%. This budget is 10 years out, I think, and presumably doesn't include a lot of growth in research funding.

[tongodeon]

"Other" includes everything that the Federal government funds other than social security, medicare, medicaid, defense, and interest. And yes, it accounts for growth.

[jakeinhartsel]

Historically the government has paid back debt by printing money. This is what happened after WW2 and durring Vietnam. This of course causes inflation, resulting in the debt being paid back at less than full value and of course almost everyone's wages and monies are reduced by the accompaning devaluation in the currency. The rich generally have enough of a pad to not be overly effected while the poor living paycheck to paycheck get screwed. Of course also so do those on fixed incomes of one type or another.