11–20 of 53 posts
Please correct me, but there seems to be something wrong. Look at the 2013 budget, "Per Capita", and "Inflation Adjusted". Those numbers should essentially be the same as "Plain Dollars", which is multiples larger.
Why does it resort and regrow all the blocks when you switch between years or other settings? If the same blocks simply grew or shrunk, it would be a lot easier to follow the difference. Actually, it sometimes simply converts blocks into others - switching between 2012 and 2013, the "Justice" block morphs into the "National Infrastructure Bank" block. Very confusing.
Actually, the US budget is not at all inaccessible ... this is one in among thousands of budget visualizations that are done every year for all sorts of publications. It is nice, doesn't need the hype.
Please correct me, but there seems to be something wrong. Look at the 2013 budget, "Per Capita", and "Inflation Adjusted". Those numbers should essentially be the same as "Plain Dollars", which is multiples larger.
The base year for inflation is 1976, so the multiple is because a dollar in 1976 is worth multiples of a dollar in 2013.
It's great to allow users to adjust the base year in case they want to, e.g., for purposes of inform how past past dollars relate to today's circumstances (e.g. Neil Cavuto expressing how he worked for $2 an hour when he was younger and loved it and so can we), but 1976 being the base year is not very productive, it's a floating reference that loses relevance as a default.
Why does it resort and regrow all the blocks when you switch between years or other settings? If the same blocks simply grew or shrunk, it would be a lot easier to follow the difference. Actually, it sometimes simply converts blocks into others - switching between 2012 and 2013, the "Justice" block morphs into the "National Infrastructure Bank" block. Very confusing.
Why does it resort and regrow all the blocks when you switch between years or other settings? If the same blocks simply grew or shrunk, it would be a lot easier to follow the difference. Actually, it sometimes simply converts blocks into others - switching between 2012 and 2013, the "Justice" block morphs into the "National Infrastructure Bank" block. Very confusing.
this is because some blocks are added and removed from year to year. In this type of visualization, it's impossible to keep things the same size and position while also changing the amounts. The best way to use this isn't to switch between years. If you click on any cell, you can see a graph of how that changes over time. If you double click on any of the cells, you can see a new visualization of everything that make…
Why is there a Railroad Retirement Board in the US budget? Shouldn't that somehow be combined with Social Security?
Does this include discretionary spending? I feel like that's pretty essential to understanding exactly what's going on... Mil-spending would look a lot more massive, I believe.
There are dozens of sites breaking down the spending (this is just another attempt at visualizing the data). A quick search led me to http://nationalpriorities.org/budget-basics/federal-budget-1... where you can find discretionary spending separated out on its own.