From:
http://www.federalbudget.com/
We have to pay interest on the National Debt, and it's the second largest expense in the federal budget.* Second only to wealth redistribution.
Last year the Treasury Department spent $360 Billion on interest payments. Compare that to NASA at $14 Billion, Education at $32 Billion, and Department of Transportation at $51 Billion. We've already spent $299 Billion on interest payments in FY2002.
Your money is spent throught Appropriations Bills passed by Congress and signed by the President. This chart is based on the Appropriations Bills. The Government does not have any money, it spends your money.
Social Security is not part of the Federal Budget. It is a separate account and has its own source of income and its own separate trust fund. Social Security payments do not go into the general fund, they go in the trust fund, and should not be counted as general revenue. The trust fund is supposed to be used to pay benefits.
Congress ordered the Treasury Department to use the money in the Social Security Trust Fund as though it were general revenue, promising to pay it back. Now that promise is part of the National Debt. So Social Security is just a very large tax collection tool.
Beware the term "Social Security Surplus"; there is no such thing. Social Security is a Ponzi Scheme, there is never more in the Trust Fund than will ever be needed. More Ponzi links: 1 2 3
"The Social Security Trust Fund is simply a meaningless record of taxes that have been collected for future needs, spent for current desires, and then recorded and counted as an asset, .... If we try to create assets for ourself at our local bank by simply recording numbers in our checkbook, I am sure they would not honor such action as a real asset. I suspect that the IRS would consider such action in creating a deduction on a tax return to be fraudulent as well." John Harker.
--- "Deficit" vs. "National Debt" ---
Suppose you need some extra money this month. Since you need extra money, you have a "budget deficit". So you borrow. The amount you then borrowed (and now owe) is called your debt. And you have to pay interest on your debt. If next month you don't have enough money (another budget deficit), you must borrow some more, and you'll still have to pay the interest on the loan. If you have a deficit every month, you keep borrowing and your debt grows. Soon the interest payment on your loan is bigger than any other item in your budget. Eventually, all you can do is pay the interest payment, and you don't have any money left over for anything else. This situation is known as bankruptcy.
Each year since 1969, Congress has spent more money than its income. The Treasury Department has to borrow money to meet Congress's appropriations. Now the total borrowed is about $6,000,000,000,000 and it still growing. Even when government officials claim to have a surplus, they still spend more than they get in.
According to Mr. Kneeland, "...all dollars come from the people. Where do [you] think Coca-Cola gets the money to pay its taxes, Exxon gets its money to pay the Exxon Valdez fines, Denny's gets the money to pay its Justice Department fines, or even Microsoft gets the money to defend itself? It all ultimately can come from only one place, and that's from individuals." And where does the Government get the money to pay the families of the WTC victims?
"For society as a whole, nothing comes as a 'right' to which we are 'entitled'. Even bare subsistence has to be produced.... The only way anyone can have a right to something that has to be produced is to force someone else to produce it... The more things are provided as rights, the less the recipients have to work and the more the providers have to carry the load." Thomas Sowell, quoted in Forbes and Reader's Digest.
"A politician cannot spend one dime on any spending project without first taking that dime from the person who earned it. So, when a politician votes for a spending bill he is saying that he believes the government should spend that particular dollar rather than the individual who worked for it." Neal Boortz.
"There is no such thing as government money - only taxpayer money." William Weld, quoted in Readers Digest.
You are a taxpayer. Is your money being spent the way you want it spent?
