Eating the Budget

I stumbled across this image earlier (not using Stumble, for the record.)
I figure I'll share it again, so it stays in circulation. That, and pie charts are just nice.

Someone asked why it was so difficult to deal with the national debt.
My answer? 
 
It isn't - if you can raise taxes. Since you can't, it's a bit tricky to reduce spending without reducing services to the public - which you also can't do. Now we're in a rut where no one wants to pay for the services they believe themselves entitled to have. Forget politicians, they're just a symptom.


I'll say this about the pie chart: Medicaid (no, not Medicare) should be paid for by the state.
Also? It makes me very, very sad how the Dept. of Education compares to some of the other pieces of the pie.

(Image represents the 2010 U.S Budget.)

Also, a note to candidates campaigning on a platform that includes eliminating entire departments of the federal government (and those misinformed enough to buy what they're selling) = > Look at the graph. No single department (aside from the DoD) gets more than 5% of the total budget. I'm reasonably sure that the sum of their allocated funds is probably 6-7% at best. Precisely what good do you really think would come from taking that away?

- C