does anyone know what percentage of our budget goes for welfare programs? I keep hearing

different numbers. Anywhere from 1% to 20-plus........

Thanks.

If you mean assistance to abandoned families, then it's under 2%, which IIRC, was the number in 2007 or so.

If you mean the old age insurance that people paid for all their lives, then it's much higher, the reason that program was kept out of the general fund when it started. They knew it would frighten conservative idiots.

If you mean corporate welfare, it far outpaces aid given to abandoned families.

Here it is in numbers. http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/welfare_budget_2010_4.html

Right wing stink tanks fudge the numbers by citing the budget with the 51-54% spent on the DOD and its entitlements deducted.

And also what you mean by "our" budget. Do you mean the federal budget? Keep in mind most social services are provided at the state level.

As seen on Wikipedia.

We pay a separate tax for that.

What taxes fund what is a revenues issue.

Unemployment insurance is a critical feature.

The reason why there are different numbers on what part of the budget is welfare, is because different people have their own ideas about what defines welfare.

dedicated taxes or fees, so that the chart shows only amounts properly paid only out of general revenues or obligations. I.e., SS would not be shown to the extent it's theoretically covered by FICA taxes; unemployment would not be shown to the extent it's covered by amounts paid in by employers, amounts spent for national parks would not be shown to the extent they're paid for by park fees, etc. -- while the entire expenses for war, spying, etc. would be included, since they're funded entirely out of general revenues.

In fact, I think this chart is very misleading in failing to take that aspect into account.

Besides, as I understand it, the Social Security trust fund holds only non-negotiable United States Treasury bonds and U.S. securities backed by the full faith and credit of the government. If that is true,and there is no fund of cash in a vault in DC, then even social security payments come out of the general fund, and the "trust fund" is just an accouting fiction for convenience. Fortunatly, at this time, the U.S. government takes in more in Social Security than it gives out.

But, Social Security itself is a part of the social safety net.

but that doesn't mean it shouldn't.

And regardless of whether our feckless reps have actually USED the sums we've paid into SS or the like as they promised, I still think such funds shd be represented differently from wars, etc.

In Treasuries?

Just like our paper money ( but not coins, interestingly).

roh-oh.

"Fortunatly, at this time, the U.S. government takes in more in Social Security than it gives out."

with so many millions of payrolls (which are taxed to fund SSI transfer payments) gone in the recession that isn't true anymore.

This is the part where the politicians tell you that the SSI 'trust fund' is really just a promise to go out and borrow more money because those taxes were spent back when.

"I'd like to see a chart that nets out expenses to the extent they're funded or provided for via dedicated taxes or fees, so that the chart shows only amounts properly paid only out of general revenues or obligations. I.e., SS would not be shown to the extent it's theoretically covered by FICA taxes"

Problem with that is that the 'dedicated taxes' are diverted to others uses (reducing the size of the deficit funded by the public/Fed). The majority of the Federal government's spending is wealth transfer from those with jobs to the wealthiest cohort - the elderly.

If the government had to report it's fiscal situation with the clarity of businesses following GAAP the deficit is already running in the trillions annually.

"We can guarantee cash payments from here on out, what we cannot guarantee is the purchasing power of that cash." -Alan Greenspan during remarks on Social Security, Feb 16, 2005

I see no other military spending on the pie chart but can't believe there isn't more.

just not as much as some would claim.

Just as with the "how much welfare is there" question in the OP, it all depends on how you define your terms.

For instance... if you believe that we wouldn't ever have a deficit if it weren't for all the wars the military industrial complex has created, then how would you score all of that interest on the national debt? Why isn't that military?

What about the portion of Social Security that is paid to military retirees? Much of their SS tax over the years was paid out of military salaries and the DOD budget. Isn't that really military spending? There are lots of other examples that cause some to claim that military spending is really more than half of the budget.