On Sat, Jun 23, 2012 at 7:52 AM, Jerry Barnes <[email protected]> wrote: > > "In every state budget I've worked with the last 20 years all of the items > you listed as increasing have been cut - Head Start Programs, welfare, etc." > > Really? Medical care has been cut? Public education has been cut (I > remember many states bitching about No Child Left Behind being an unfunded > mandate increasing costs)? How about the number of programs? Have the > number of social programs been cut or have they grown?
Key finding from The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities for 2001-2008 http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=125 There has been no rapid rise in funding for domestic discretionary programs in recent years; in fact these programs have shrunk both as a share of the budget and as a share of the economy. In contrast, funding for defense and related programs has exploded. Since 2001, it has jumped at an annual average rate of 8 percent, after adjusting for inflation and population four times faster than the average rate of growth for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid (2 percent), and 27 times faster than the average rate for growth for domestic discretionary programs (0.3 percent). Funding for defense and related programs has shot up by 2 percent of GDP in just seven years. It is expected to take more than two decades for Social Security to grow by 2 percent of GDP. Even when costs for Iraq, Afghanistan, and the global war on terror are excluded, funding for the regular defense budget has risen at a stunning rate that dwarfs the growth rates for all parts of the domestic budget. The combined effect of the Administrations tax cuts and its defense spending increases (including the war) has been a budget deterioration equal to 3.3 percent of GDP since 2001. By contrast, increases in costs for all domestic programs combined have cost a little less than 0.6 percent ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:352223 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
