Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
Infographic of the Week: Where Does the Federal Government Spend Our Money?
Infographic of the Week: Where Does the Federal Government Spend Our Money?
Jan 14, 2026 3:34 AM

Every year some pollster asks Americans what percentageof the federal budget goes to foreign aid. And every year Americans make a guess that is wildly off the mark. The average answer we give is 26 percent; only 1 out of 20 of us correctly guess that it’s less than 1 percent.

Part of the reason we are wrong is that we’re just really bad at guesstimation. But another reason is that we rarely take the time to find out what is actually in the federal budget.

Fortunately, the Office of Management and Budget has something that can make that process easier. Using their interactive graphic you can explore where your tax dollars go and see what portion of the Federal budget is dedicated to different program areas under President Obama’s proposed budget for 2016.

Even just a glance at the proposed budget will show you that former undersecretary of the Treasury Peter Fisher was right when he described the U.S. government as “an pany with an army.”

Note: This is just a static image. Click here to find the interactive graphic.

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
What Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gets wrong about Europe
During her interview with 60 Minutes on Sunday, newly sworn in Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez justified her vision of democratic socialism by invoking a caricature of Europe. When asked if she wanted to turn the United States into a version of Venezuela or the Soviet Union, Ocasio-Cortez demurred with an incredulous smile. “What we have in mind,” she said, according to the transcript, “and what of my — and my policies most closely re— resemble what we see in the U.K.,...
Is a no-deal Brexit a ‘moral failure’?
After a long postponement, the UK Parliament has resumed its debate leading up to the “meaningful vote” on Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal. As of this writing, the promise is predicted to fail by an historically large margin – and some clerics consider this not just unfortunate but immoral. Rev. Richard Turnbull analyses that argument, and the status of Brexit, in a new essay written the Acton Institute’s Religion & Liberty Transatlantic website. Rev. Turnbull writes: In the upper...
How economics is like Christianity
Christianity is a very other-directed religion. It requires those of us who are Christians to love our neighbors as we love ourselves (Mark 12:31). We are even required to love our enemies and appeal to God on behalf of those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44). Throughout the Bible we are also told to show concern for others, especially the poor (e.g., Proverbs 21:13, 28:27). Perhaps this is why so many Christians are drawn to the discipline of economics. At its...
Radio Free Acton: A first step towards criminal justice reform; The human cost of unemployment part II
On this episode of Radio Free Acton, producer Caroline Roberts speaks with Sarah Estelle,associate professor of economics at Hope College. Caroline and Sarah discuss the subject of criminal justice reform in light of the recently passed, bipartisan bill, The First Step Act, covering specific policies in the new bill and effects of the current criminal system. After that, award winning reporter Anne Marie Schieber continues exploring the effects of unemployment. Last week,we showed the importance of being in the right...
A call for harmony — and a demand for truth
Pope Francis’ recent Christmas message, ‘Urbi et Orbi’, was a meditation on the roots of fraternity in the incarnation: What does that Child, born for us of the Virgin Mary, have to tell us? What is the universal message of Christmas? It is that God is a good Father and we are all brothers and sisters. This truth is the basis of the Christian vision of humanity. Without the fraternity that Jesus Christ has bestowed on us, our efforts for...
Alejandro Chafuen in Forbes: Michelin short business (and personal) guide
Alejandro Chafuen, Acton’s Managing Director, International, describes in Forbes how a good businessman ought to be first a good man. The principles that guided François Michelin apply not only in business but also in personal life. Michelin is a French surname, but it is also a synonym for quality tires and restaurant mendations. This article, however, is not about the current state of this $18 pany but about some of its most important roots: the principles that guided François Michelin...
The particular genius of conservatism
The U.S. Constitution is a work of both the historical experience of the Founding Fathers and of the eminently Protestant culture to which they belonged. It is probably futile to try to understand the legal meaning of the Constitution without first grasping its historical and cultural significance. In the Federalist Papers, John Jay makes an unequivocal defense of mon understanding among the Framers: that the nascent republic was blessed because its citizens shared the same language, religion, and ancestries. In...
In Spain, collectivism is rising on the Right
Spain closed out 2018 by witnessing the rise of a new and growing populist party named Vox, writes Ángel Manuel García Carmona in a new essay for Acton’s Religion & Liberty Transatlantic website: Since 2016, right-wing populist parties have been on the rise in Europe: National Rally (formerly the National Front) in France, the League in Italy, the Party for Freedom in Netherlands, Vlaams Belang in Flanders, and the Alternative for Germany are but a few examples. Yet the Iberian...
Samuel Gregg: Bringing natural law to the nations
“If sovereign states ordered their domestic affairs in accordance with principles of natural law,” says Acton research director Samuel Gregg at Law & Liberty, “the international sphere would benefit greatly.” During periods of resurgent national feeling, mon for enthusiasts of liberal international order and human rights activists to begin emphasizing the importance of international law and the way they think it should guide and restrain the choices of nations. Since the United Nations Assembly adopted theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights(UDHR)...
Study: Is population growth essential to economic flourishing?
Thedoom delusionsof central planners and population “experts” are well documented and thoroughly exposed, from the faulty predictions of Paul Ehrlich to the more recent hysteria among environmental activists who continue to day-dream about the glories of “a world without us.” Thankfully, due to a growing crop of calming counters from leading mainstream thinkers—from Steven Pinker to Hans Rosling—society has e a bit more resilient against the heightened hyperbole of population doom-and-gloomers. But even if such fears have been somewhat mitigated,...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved