Debt. Defense. Dole.
Where did my taxes go?
41–50 of 231 posts
Re: Where did my taxes go?
#42This is great. I'd also recommend Covid money tracker. US printed nearly $12 trillion in response to Covid, something like 25% increase in money supply. And it is my contention that this has driven inflation (both asset - think meme stocks, rise in crypto etc - as well general levels that started to appear by 2022) https://www.covidmoneytracker.org/
It has, as has similar efforts worldwide which also saw similar or worse levels of inflation. We were dealt a shit hand and the thinking was it's less pain overall compared to the alternative.
That said, the amount of fraud that was perpetuated here without any follow-through on enforcement is ... extremely not good.
Re: Where did my taxes go?
#43This makes it sort of obvious how large the US welfare state is. Medicaid: 10% "Safety Net": 7.1% Social Security: 22.6% Medicare: 14.2% 53.9% of the federal budget is spent on welfare. That seems roughly in line with most Western nations.
The US spends the most per capita[0] on healthcare in the world, all to receive a healthcare system that still requires lots of citizens to carry private insurance. I've never dug deep into why, but it sure is noteworthy.
0: https://www.statista.com/statistics/283221/per-capita-health...
Re: Where did my taxes go?
#44Re: Where did my taxes go?
#45I can’t help wondering about the categorization. For example, we spend more on “agricultural subsidies” than “NASA & space” or “EPA & environment”, but for some reason the former gets hidden under the “all other” category while the latter two get their own distinct categories. The author might not have a political motivation for those choices, but it’s the kind of choice that will likely influence the political conclusions the reader will make from the data.
Re: Where did my taxes go?
#46As a thought experiment, it'd be interesting to imagine how things would play out if each taxpayer could adjust little sliders on each category to allocate where they personally would like their taxes to go. Agencies could recommend funding levels, Congress could recommend an allocation and if a taxpayer didn't change it, that default would take effect. But if a taxpayer preferred, they could say, "no, I won't be fun…
I always think as an individual I would like this. But at scale I worry it would incentivize each department to advertise themselves to the public, which seems to me like a waste of funds.
I already dislike the reelection cycle (politicians incentivized to always be fundraising) and would hate to see that happen per department.
Re: Where did my taxes go?
#47If the US had a credit score, I wonder what it would be?
They're rated AA+/AA- depending on whom. The downgrades to the US's credit rating were big news: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_governme...
And also completely meaningless as a credit rating in the context of creditworthiness specifically means the ability to repay. And they can always print dollar bills to do so.
Now whether that $1 in 20 years will buy anything is an entirely different story.
Re: Where did my taxes go?
#48How many people are murdered per dollar spent on "defense"?
In 2025, approximately $850 million per person who died.
Re: Where did my taxes go?
#49Since we renamed DOD to DOW, should the Defense budget be renamed too?
Re: Where did my taxes go?
#50This makes it sort of obvious how large the US welfare state is. Medicaid: 10% "Safety Net": 7.1% Social Security: 22.6% Medicare: 14.2% 53.9% of the federal budget is spent on welfare. That seems roughly in line with most Western nations.
Unfortunately, much of that gets dispersed into an unfathomably complex web of private and profit-seeking interests, with much less actually going to individual beneficiaries.
A lot just gets sucked up by 3rd parties of all stripes. Only ~20% of hospitals are for profit institutions for example.