Oct 132010
 
N.Y. Faces $200 Billion in Retiree Health Costs

Mary W. Walsh in The New York Times in October 2010 reported that the municipalities of New York face $200 billion in health care benefits to retirees. The health benefits are separate from the pensions. “Governments have reported their pension obligations for years, but their retiree medical obligations have been building up unseen, because governments […Full Article]

Oct 092010
 
U.S. Federal Government Employee and Regulation Growth

Stephen Moore in National Review in February 2004 mentioned a couple of statistics on the size and growth of government. Though the article is from 2004, the statistics and information still provide a current picture of the federal government: “In 1940 there were 4 million Americans working for government and 11 million working in manufacturing. […Full Article]

Oct 082010
 
U.S. Education Spending Compared to Other Countries

Public direct expenditures for education as a percentage of the gross domestic product (GDP), by country: 2003 NOTE: Includes all government expenditures for education institutions, plus public subsidies to households for living costs that are not spent at education institutions. SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Education at a Glance, 2006. For additional […Full Article]

Oct 082010
 
Pork Spending

According to Citizens Against Government Waste, a “‘pork’ project is a line-item in an appropriations bill that designates tax dollars for a specific purpose in circumvention of established budgetary procedures.” US Legal defines pork spending, or pork-barrel legislation, as “appropriations of public funds by Congress or other legislative bodies for pet projects that serve the […Full Article]

Oct 082010
 
The War on Terror Expenditures

The Congressional Research Service in October of 2008 provided a report for congress on the expenditures on the War on Terror: “Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) covering Afghanistan and other Global War on Terror (GWOT) operations ranging from the Philippines to Djibouti that began immediately after the 9/11 attacks and continues” Enhanced Security is for “Operation […Full Article]

Oct 082010
 
U.S. Military Spending Compared to Other Countries

The numbers in parentheses next to country names indicates the amount of those respective countries’ military spending in billions of U.S. dollars. For example, The Netherlands (16) means The Netherlands spends $16 billions dollars in military spending. The chart on the left is from the War Resisters League website. Additional information can be accessed on […Full Article]

Oct 082010
 
U.S. Federal Government Spending as a Percentage to the U.S. Economy Compared to Other Countries

WorkforAll had the following illustration with U.S. federal government spending compared to other countries. GDP stands for Gross Domestic Product and is a measure of the economy as it measures the total market value of all final goods and services produced in a country in a given year. E.U. stands for European Union which is […Full Article]