[Sushi]

http://www.whatwepayfor.com/default.aspx?f=2784

I've been looking for a thorough, accessible breakdown of the federal budget like this for a while. Interface takes a couple seconds to get used to, but the data is great!

I hope they keep expanding this, and start to include data for state taxes as well...

[Snail]

Cool. Is there a UK version?

[General Battuta]

Cool. Is there a UK version?

sure, just remove the dental expendit-

i'm out

[Shivan Hunter]

OOOOH BURRRN

I've seen the numbers before, but I'm still disturbed by the massive amount the US (I don't refer to my country as "we") spends on "defense" (which is really the whole military, not "defense", as far as I can tell). Why are humans so insanely caught up on killing each other?!

[SpardaSon21]

Because we have been ever since before we achieved full sentience?  Really, like all other animals we compete amongst ourselves and against other species for possession and control of limited resources.  We could try to not do it, but then as we First World nations are all peace-ing out some group of humans without said pacifism finds us soft pickings and decides to kill us and take our land and women.

[General Battuta]

Because we have been ever since before we achieved full sentience?  Really, like all other animals we compete amongst ourselves and against other species for possession and control of limited resources.

Yeah but we don't do it with militaries any more. Militaries are like cops: necessary but no longer (for the moment) a primary means of competition.

We could try to not do it, but then as we First World nations are all peace-ing out some group of humans without said pacifism finds us soft pickings and decides to kill us and take our land and women.

Sure, maybe, but that doesn't mean our military needs to be the size it is - it's more of a dickwaving thing to keep ourselves in a nominally hegemonic position. Soft power gets the job done better in the long term; the military is just an extension of politics by other means, and policy is an extension of economics.

[Nuclear1]

Yeah, plus wouldn't it help to have some multinational military alliance to help bear the bur--

Oh.

[NGTM-1R]

Oh.

NATO is a defensive alliance. If you want to project power...well you're gonna need to alter the charter a bit.

[General Battuta]

Oh.

NATO is a defensive alliance. If you want to project power...well you're gonna need to alter the charter a bit.

Power projection is overrated anyway, we've lost every offensive war we've started!

[NGTM-1R]

Power projection is overrated anyway, we've lost every offensive war we've started!

And done quite a lot to prevent having to fight others. You have a point?

[General Battuta]

Power projection is overrated anyway, we've lost every offensive war we've started!

And done quite a lot to prevent having to fight others. You have a point?

Yes, I'm sure we did a great job intervening in

uh

struggling to find great jobs with positive outcomes

[noodle]

Annual spending on education less than 1/7th what we spend on the military.

ALLOFMYHATEALLOFMYHATEALLOFMYHATEALLOFMYHATE

[Topgun]

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

I like this better.

I particularly like how the gross debt to gdp ratio is almost 93%.

[NGTM-1R]

Yes, I'm sure we did a great job intervening in

uh

struggling to find great jobs with positive outcomes

Somehow, I think you'll have difficultly proving a negative anyways. Crisis management is sort of about prevention.

[Pred the Penguin]

Some of that stuff on there is depressing...

[General Battuta]

Yes, I'm sure we did a great job intervening in

uh

struggling to find great jobs with positive outcomes

Somehow, I think you'll have difficultly proving a negative anyways. Crisis management is sort of about prevention.

Yeah, it's definitely true that the results are really complex, but I do think there's - for maybe non-causally-connected reasons - a clear difference between outcomes in our defensive wars and outcomes in our offensive wars.

[Grizzly]

Yes, I'm sure we did a great job intervening in

uh

struggling to find great jobs with positive outcomes

Somehow, I think you'll have difficultly proving a negative anyways. Crisis management is sort of about prevention.

Yeah, it's definitely true that the results are really complex, but I do think there's - for maybe non-causally-connected reasons - a clear difference between outcomes in our defensive wars and outcomes in our offensive wars.

Air Support isn't everything?

[mxlm]

we've lost every offensive war we've started!

Except for that one time when we ended up taking half of Mexico. And various other times in which various tribes were soundly defeated. Also the time we thrashed the Spaniards.

[General Battuta]

we've lost every offensive war we've started!

Except for that one time when we ended up taking half of Mexico. And various other times in which various tribes were soundly defeated. Also the time we thrashed the Spaniards.

Okay you are totally right. I guess I meant post-WW2.

[Kosh]

we've lost every offensive war we've started!

Except for that one time when we ended up taking half of Mexico. And various other times in which various tribes were soundly defeated. Also the time we thrashed the Spaniards.

That was 100+ years ago.......