The 6 most expensive ways Congress spends your money
January 28, 2013 at 1:58 pm in News by Dustin Siggins 23 Comments
Last week, Tea Party Patriots discussed the Treasury Department’s Financial Report of the U.S. Government for Fiscal Year 2012. The report, which is 260 pages long, is full of valuable information of which all Americans should be aware.
Over the next eight days or so, Tea Party Patriots will be highlighting specific information found in the report that you can use to convince your friends and neighbors of the fiscal danger America is in. Today, we’ll look at the top six ways the federal government spent your money in 2012. The full list of 36 named agencies and the rest listed as “other” can be found on Page 40 of the report.
Here are the top six ways Congress spends your money, in billions of dollars:
Department of Health and Human Services………… 856.5
Social Security Administration …………………………… 825.1
Department of Defense ……………………………………. 799.1
Department of Veterans Affairs …………………………. 358.8
Interest on Treasury Securities Held by the Public .. 245.4
Department of Agriculture…………………………………. 149.0
As you can see, over $3 trillion of the $3.8 trillion spent in 2012 was in these six areas. This means every time a politician talks about balancing the budget and/or avoiding the coming fiscal crisis without touching these areas (except for interest payments), that politician is either lying or ignorant about the facts.
Judging by recent history, most politicians are not willing to do what’s necessary, especially regarding the Big Three areas of the budget – Social Security, Health & Human Services (Medicare, Medicaid, and other programs), and national defense. Social Security and Medicare, especially, are projected in the Treasury’s report to be the major drivers of future deficits, along with interest. Any proposal to balance the budget must include reform of these departments. Those who say otherwise are not serious about cutting spending.
How much could we save by putting them on the same retirement and health care plan that they force on us?……..FORCE……why do we have to pay social security when there is no security…..
Why always social security and medicare . Those are actually paid for by working people. Cut the welfare and medicaid. You see that DHHS is more anyway. Thats your welfare and medicaid. FREE HANDOUTS !!!!!!! As for the Agriculture I don`t know if youve seen the stats on it but over 3/4 of the Agriculture budget is foodstamps. They harp on cutting whats paid for and never consider cutting the freebies!!!! We have such a screwed up government!!!
The facts are as obvious as when we must make our own fiscal decisions. There are natural laws that underly all economic decisions, starting with the most obvious of all – you cannot create something from nothing. Pretending that you can live on credit is like pretending you can re-invent or ignore the laws of nature. As we know on an individual level, this is impossible. And it no less i possible on a national level.
No mention of all the Washington “fat”, politicans living like royalty, Obama’s Hawaii vacations, 26 personal assistants to make Mechille acceptable even to the libs, inflated government, aid to countries who hate us, guns and tanks to provide durg cartel and foreign governments to us against us and our allies, building of Mosques around the world, not mention payoffs and purchases of favor from lobbists, other politicians, corporations, and media……………………..
These entitlements are killing us! We need to cut benefits or increase revenue but need to stop borrowing to pay for these programs!
This is why the “threat” of default is a bogus argument. We have 250B a month revenue whic WAY more covers our monthy interest payments. There are only TWO possible reasons the Admin. wants the debt ceiling lifted|: 1.) They have no plans of reducing spending or 2) They know the alternative is to raise taxes on everyone, not just the rich. Frank said it…you can’t ignore the laws of economics.
Sooner or later, default is the outcome intended by those who are busy running up the debt.
The intention is to deliberately throw the nation into such climactic stress as to permit re-apportionment of all assets, public and private, as well as genocide for the elderly and chronically ill. Read the part of the health care bill about “health care homes”, administration of same, and parameters of evaluation of the administrators.
The claim of “Odious Debt” could be made if such grand schemes were interdicted and saner heads prevail, one of the reasons I joined this outfit. We have alot of enlightening to do.
I procured a url from my congressman that was the bill, I don’t have it with me, cost me 85 bucks to h
have Kinko’s print it, and you have to do that to free up your computer to cross-reference each paragraph
Ah, it is a mess to decipher.
Why not list all those items on page 40 of the report. They may be smaller amounts but they may be for organizations, etc that could be COMPLETELY ELIMINATED, ie, foreign aid, public radio, departments in govt that could or should be eliminated like the EPA, HUD (which in my opinion is just a way for the govt to GRAB from citizens) and others that I can’t think of right at this moment. I would really like to see that list. In total, some of the items might be quite pricey.
i worked and payed into ss all my life that is my money that i worked for. stop all the give away to those who don’t work and illegal aliens. what part of illegal doesn’t this gov. understand. i can’t afford a cell phone but if you are on welfare the gov gives you one
Tom I agree that Soc Sec and now other benefits are payed into for life and should therefore be funded but the fact that it isnt shows the failure of socialism.The nature of those who can capitalize on aquireing and distributing large sums of other peoples money to benefit themselves and their cohorts ts sickening.Its evident in every socialist country today as they are all broke awaiting bailouts. If this reality is clearer to you now will you pass it on to your children or dry up their lakes of money and intrusion since it is compusitory to pay into their expanding systems. Paying money dollar for dollar then and now is a ponsi scheme. money was worth more then and could have been personally invested for greater reward . Be willing to let your children breath free air.
THIS ONE IS DIFFERENT. IT ACTUALLY LISTS THE SALARIES TAXPAYERS (YOU & ME [I]) WILL PAY THESE PEOPLE FOR LIFE. IT IS SICKENING!
The perfect explanation of vested interest….THEY have to vote to make the changes… Fat chance!!
Subject: Salaries for Life
Aren’t these entitlements that they should be thinking about reducing…..??
I’ve always said the cuts should be made here but no one seems to budge on the issue. Just a lot of talk. Our government doesn’t care about us, ONLY themselves.
Salary of retired US Presidents ………….$180,000 FOR LIFE
Salary of House/Senate …………………..$174,000 FOR LIFE This is stupid
Salary of Speaker of the House ………….$223,500 FOR LIFE! This is really stupid
Salary of Majority/Minority Leaders ……. $193,400 FOR LIFE! Ditto last line
Average Salary of a teacher …………… $40,065
Average Salary of Soldier DEPLOYED IN AFGHANISTAN ……. $38,000
Think about this.
Nancy Pelosi will retire as a Congress Person at $174,000 Dollars a year for LIFE.
She has retired as SPEAKER at $223,500 a year.
PLUS she will receive an additional $193,400 a year as Minority Leader.
That’s $803,700 Dollars a year for LIFE including FREE medical which is not available to US…the taxpayers?
She is just one of the hundreds of Senators and Congress that float in and out every year!
I think we found where the cuts should be made!
Do you agree …..
I believe you are so right. NO one EVER mentions this. These people in gov. have gotten rich on the taxpayers money, and we just keep on paying them for life. How about putting them on social security instead of a pension for life. How about putting them on Obamacare instead of their elite medical care they are getting (on taxpayer monies). They not only get great salaries, but just think of all the freebies they get.
Pertaining to the retired presidents, that 180 is the wages, the secret service, travel, and other amenities are open book.
Some of you people want us to cut spending on the EPA, salaries to a few hundred Politicans, and public radio but not cut your Social Security and Medicare giveaway? Look at the numbers, the cost of these programs are peanuts compared to the entitlements. The hypocrisy is truly laughable!
Social security is a dedicated fund with a tax to cover it, the hypocrisy is that we haven’t crab walked the lawmakers who every year- roll it into the general fund or loot it for schemes such as the affordable care act.
Roads and bridges are another such fiasco, which should be funded by appropriate fuel taxes to sustain them and remunerate the general fund for their construction, in application, funding infrastructure out of the general fund is an intervention into the free market.
Loon – The gov’t pays back the fund with the included interest. My point is that people get back more from Social Security and Medicare than they ever put into it. What does borrowing from the fund have to do with anything when the gov’t is required to pay it back? The gov’t is paying not only the IOU to the fund but also the extra money to supplement the recipient’s monthly checks and medical costs. All this talk about cutting the EPA, but keeping people’s gov’t handout is a hypocrisy. Check the facts. People get more then they ever put in which is why we are going bankrupt!!!
Think about this when they put the Social Security fund into the general spending fund several years ago now the big shortage only because the politicians kept right on spending like there was no tomorrow, they didn’t have to worry their fund is in another area that would be a good place to clean house. They & then their wife receive their money until they are all finally gone & free health care besides. Frankly if they wanted to save these programs for us they could serve their term not make lifelong politicians out of themselves because they are only looking out for their own good not John Q Public. Enough said …
The looting of social security started many administrations ago, Lyndon Johnson was good at it.
Lets not worry about the spending. Instead, lets grow the economy so that our tax revenues exceed our spending. How to do that? Pass the Fair Tax. The Fair Tax eliminates all the income taxes – personal, corporate, capital gains, estate, gift, alternative minimum, Social Security, Medicare, etc. These taxes, especially the corporate tax, retard our industrial growth. This causes unemployment. Unemployment causes huge gov’t expenditures in unemployment insurance and food stamps. The elimination of these taxes would eliminate the main reason that businesses have shipped jobs overseas. No, it isn’t their labor rates, its our taxes (and or regulations, but one thing at a time…) Just get rid of the income taxes, pass the Fair Tax, and experience an economic boom of biblical proportions. America would be back on top of the economic heap. With new factories springing up on every corner, we would soon experience a labor shortage, which would mean that wages would go up. Then we could open the immigration doors and those people would have good jobs, too. The taxes that all these employed people would pay when purchasing new items and services for sale would balance the budget without cutting anything.
It is hard for us that paid in SS for 40+years to just say goodby. Our retirements were planned and built with SS as a part. To me that meant I paid in over $300,000 that could have gone towards my retirement. I say re-establish the SS trust fund and fixed it as a separate entity not part of the tax structure, which it was never intended to be.
HHS is due to double in the next 5 years, read that wonderful tome they crafted that made its director about a Diety.
Social security is being looted to get money for HHS, that transfer has to be recorded as an outlay.
Department of defence is one of the enumerated duties of the federal government. OUR defence, not the “American interest” defence that has dragged us in and out of foreign wars for over a century.
Veterans affairs belong under department of defence, you don’t have veterans if you don’t have wars.
Treasury bonds held by public, it seems to me that a persons money is their property, and as per the 4th amendment, the state does not use a private citizens property without remuneration.
Over 60% of the department of agriculture’s budget is the EBT program, which is nothing less than corporate welfare for cheapskate employers. The intervention into farm prices has destroyed our family farms, tainted our foodstuffs with genetically altered food from corn to chicken, and poisoned our children with pesticides and herbicides, it is a graphic failure.
Emilia’s info has been outdated since the mid 1980′s. They are bogus statistics. All federal politicians are on the exact same retirement & health care plan as US postal workers. They must serve at least 10 years to get anything.
Do you (Mantz) mind sharing your sources? Because I would like to know exactly where I can find this stuff.