Neoteny

Money comes into the federal government through taxes and bonds. The vast majority of it is then spent on old-people programs, poor-people programs, and defense.

Mitt Romney is promising that taxes will go down, defense spending will go up, and old-people programs won’t change for this generation of retirees. So three of his four options for deficit reduction — taxes, old-people programs, and defense — are now either contributing to the deficit or are off-limits for the next decade.

Romney is also promising that he will pay for his tax cuts, pay for his defense spending, and reduce total federal spending by more than $6 trillion over the next 10 years. But the only big pot of money left to him is poor-people programs. So, by simple process of elimination, poor-people programs will have to be cut dramatically. There’s no other way to make those numbers work.

(Source: Washington Post, via brosephstalin-deactivated201212)

think-progress:

1. It includes $350 billion in short-term measures to encourage job growth, including billions in infrastructure and schools.

2. The total budget reduces the deficit by $4 trillion over the next decade.

3. Unlike the last two GOP budgets, Obama’s budget protects Medicare and Medicaid from structural changes, and through small tweaks, saves $360 billion from those programs.

4. The budget eliminates 12 tax breaks to oil, gas, and coal companies, saving $41 billion over 10 years.

5. States will receive $30 billion in aid to prevent furtherlayoffs of firefighters, teachers, and police officers.

And we have 5 more facts on what you’ll find in Obama’s budget. 

hipsterlibertarian:

What Thrives and What Dies During War?

From the article comes this outline:

Main Street Economy: Land, Labor, and Capital Harmed By War

• Retail business
• Real estate and Insurance
• Art and Entertainment
• Airlines and capital intensive industries
• Manufacturing and Non-defense capital goods

The Unregulated Economy: Technology and Entrepreneurship Harmed By War

• Technology
• Internet
• Banking privacy
• Small businesses
• New businesses

The Death Economy: Benefits From the Destruction of People, Peace, and Privacy

• Military
• Weapons Industry
• Spies (CIA, FBI, etc.)
• Government and Taxes
• The News Media

The Devil Economy: Benefits From Government and War

• Wall Street
• Big Banks
• Oil Service Companies
• Pharmaceutical and Healthcare
• Public Enterprises