Saturday, February 28, 2009

Chart of the Day

From a February 24th Wall Street Journal piece on Obama's budget plan:


source: WSJ


MORE:

See MaxedOutMama's analysis of the Obama budget:
The numbers behind the, ah, "budget" can be read here. Start with the tables (22 page pdf file). Go to page 5 and look at that chart. The first section is the baseline projection of outlays. The huge budget item (a fact that Democrats don't want to see) is the social welfare spending. That includes Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and all other welfare programs such as food stamps, other medical grants, and welfare.

In 2008, the outlays for these programs ALONE are 2.9 trillion. Yes, that is TRILLION. In 2018 the projected outlays for just these programs are just under 5 trillion. Current dollar US GDP as of Q4 2008 was estimated as 14.26 trillion. Thus, we are spending slightly over 20% of GDP on just the entitlement programs. That doesn't include defense, and it doesn't include interest on the deficit.

In 2008, interest on the deficit is listed as 253 billion. In 2018, interest on the deficit is expected to cost 651 billion.

In 2008, the deficit was 459 billion. Now we go to table 1 in the pdf, which shows the proposed spending. The proposed 2009 deficit is 1.7 trillion. In 2010 the proposed deficit is 1.1 trillion.
(via Chas' Compilation)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh what the hell. Let's just go for $5 trillion.

Anonymous said...

Frightening chart. What worries me most is I'm not sure the politicians have any idea what they're doing. Have we found even one member of Congress who read all of the last big stimulus bill before they voted for it? It's obvious that nothing has impressed Wall Street so far, and normal folks are getting increasingly angry as they begin to understand that their money will be used to bail out people who didn't pay their credit card bills and mortgages.

@nooil4pacifists said...

WM:

Wait a year, it will.

TC:

Agreed. Especially because I'm increasingly doubtful what we're doing will pull America out of recession before the natural rise in the business cycle.

bobn said...

I'm increasingly doubtful what we're doing will pull America out of recession before the natural rise in the business cycle.

ROTFLMAO! Natural business cycle? Man, you just don't get it. This is not your father's recession.

If we hadn't already been headed for a depression, Obama's energy policies pretty much guarantee one.

Things are well and truly screwed and nobody in either party is going to do the right thing, which would be to nullify CDS and euthanize the black-hole zombies in the financial system, and so it will be just as bad as it can be - and that will be very bad indeed.

OBloodyHell said...

I'm not quite as pessimistic as bob, but I think this generation is about to get a taste of the 70s. Hopfully, that's followed by a taste of the 80s, too...

I've been saying since he first won the nom that Obama would be Jimmy Carter Parte Deux.

We'll see. I think the 2010 Congressional results should be... interesting. If the Dems can win/keep evn vaguely even thanks to all the jerrymandering they're going to pull, it'll be a bad sign. More than 2 years of drooling Congressional support for Obama isn't going to be pretty.

The GOP needs to start a low-level "vote the bastards out" campaign starting yesterday, so as to have it ready for a full boil 2 years from now.