The New York Times has two great infographics. The first takes a look at Obama’s Budget Proposal, and shows you where the money is spent. Both National Defense and Social Security tie with $738 Billion being spent on them. Income security comes in third at $560 Billion. Income Security includes such items as unemployment insurance, food stamps, etc. Medicare comes in fourth at $498 Billion. The infographic is interactive, and allows you to delve into particular areas of the budget to learn more about it. It is also colored to show whether the budget increased in a particular area, or decreased.
The second interactive infographic shows how inaccurate past budget forecasts from the Office of Management and Budget have been. For example, in 1995 the OMB did not predict a budget surplus in 1999. In 2008, the OMB did project a budget surplus for 2012. Perhaps the U.S. will have a budget surplus in 2012, but I severely doubt it. To be fair to the OMB, they make their projections based on political policy and the economy. For example, they expected the economy to remain in good shape in 2008, and for the Bush tax cuts to expire.
via New York Times : Obama’s 2011 Budget Proposal: How It’s Spent
via New York Times : Budget Forecasts, Compared With Reality
