WILLisms.com: Trivia Tidbit Of The Day: Part 186 -- Government Revenues & Spending.

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Trivia Tidbit Of The Day: Part 186 -- Government Revenues & Spending.

Record Government Revenues, But Lots Of Spending, Too-

The latest Treasury statement is out, and, once again, there's both good and bad news (.pdf):

First, the federal budget deficit for Fiscal Year 2005 (which is now over) was $318.6 billion. This is down from $412.8 billion in FY2004, but still too high.

So how did it happen?

Government revenues increased by 14.6%.
Government spending, meanwhile, increased by 7.9%.

Although spending was up bigtime, the deficit closed somewhat, as the economy boomed, delivering record tax cha-ching to the government's coffers (.pdf):

And where did the bulk of that increased spending come from? Was it all that pork we hear so much about?

No. It was mostly from entitlement growth and increased spending on national security.

Social Security was the largest individual program in terms of spending in FY2005, eclipsing national defense spending by roughly 30 billion dollars. Few Americans realize this.

More should.

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Posted by Will Franklin · 15 October 2005 10:41 AM

Comments

That is interesting! We always hear about how much the national defense is costing but seldom if ever hear about Social Security! It is soooooooo past time to REFORM Social Security!

Posted by: Zsa Zsa at October 15, 2005 11:00 AM

"Social Security was the largest individual program in terms of spending in FY2005, eclipsing national defense spending by roughly 30 billion dollars."

With no end in sight.

Posted by: KipEsquire at October 15, 2005 11:12 AM

No end in sight?... Why are our friends in Washington avoiding the inevitable?

Posted by: Zsa Zsa at October 15, 2005 11:39 AM

If revenues are up 14.6% and spending up 7.9%, you will catch up eventually. (Does the math of 6.7% of $2.1 trillion is $70 billion a year, deficit was $333 billion last time I looked) OK, balanced in 2011.
NP
Sorry for being so contrarian, WILL

Posted by: Don Surber at October 16, 2005 02:46 AM