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How the government spends our money

Dan Piergallini

The 2007 $2.7 trillion dollar federal budget breaks down like this:

  • Less than 1% on research and development, including space exploration
  • 2% on agriculture and environment, including preservation, sustainable techniques, etc
  • 3% on education, including collegiate, primary, instruction of teachers, etc
  • 21% on social security
  • 20% on defense
  • 23% on healthcare (including medicare)

To show how these figures have changed over time, here is how those percentages looked in 1995, 1985, 1975, and 1965:

1995 budget: $1.5 trillion

  • 1.1% on research and development
  • 2% on agriculture/environment
  • 3% on education
  • 22% on social security
  • 18% on defense
  • 18% on healthcare

1985 budget: $946 billion

  • Less than 1% on research and development
  • 4% on agriculture/environment
  • 3% on education
  • 20% on social security
  • 26.7% on defense
  • 10.5% on healthcare

1975 budget: $332 billion

  • 1.2% on research and development
  • 3% on agriculture/environment
  • 5% on education
  • 19% on social security
  • 26% on defense
  • 7.8% on health care

1965 budget: $118 billion

  • 5% on research and development
  • 5.3% on agriculture/environment
  • 2% on education
  • 14.8% on social security
  • 42.8% on defense
  • 1.5% on healthcare

Source: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy08/sheets/hist03z2.xls

You might notice some trends, such as:

  1. The reduced spending on research and development
  2. The reduced spending on agriculture and environment
  3. A consistent committment (or lack thereof) toward educational spending
  4. The increased spending on social security
  5. The "decreased" spending on defense (The Vietnam war obviously plays a significant part)
  6. The massive increase in health care spending (The Medicare program wasn't budgeted until 1966).

The point? Our focus rarely seems ON the future (education, agriculture, environment, research and development spending) - except in the cases of Social Security and Health Care - which have been the two largest growing federal expenditures (percentage wise) and simply cannot grow at these paces anymore.

One might argue that a focus on education, research, and development could help lead to scientific breakthroughs in healthcare; a more educated workforce (which would correspond to higher incomes) that relies less on social security for retirement; and a healthier planet to ensure the success of future generations of Americans.