TW: I posted yesterday on dubious government spending in AfPak. Folks are frustrated, cynical and at times enrage about government spending. Yet it turns out Americans have very poor knowledge of how our government spends money in general. As I repeat over and over- health care, social security, interest and various forms of defense spending eat up the vast majority of federal spending. If one is serious about fiscal policy, define legitimate means by which to address those costs.
From Economist: "...Let me quote Bryan Caplan:
'The public seriously overestimates the fraction of the federal budget spent on welfare and foreign aid. When the National Survey of Public Knowledge of Welfare Reform and the Federal Budget...asked the public to name the two "largest areas of government spending" from a list of six areas (foreign aid, welfare, interest on the federal debt, defense, Social Security, and health), only 37% and 14% respectively correctly named defense and Social Security. "Foreign aid" was the most frequently cited: 41% thought that it was one of the two largest areas of federal spending, even though in reality it is less than 1% of the federal budget. "Welfare" came in second: 40% ranked it as one of the two largest federal programs...With estimates this biased, the unpopularity of foreign aid and welfare is easy to understand.'
It's hard to know how to feel about concern about government waste when the public has no idea on what the government is spending its money..."
http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2009/09/when_to_ignore_public_opinion.cfm
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