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?
Nov 28, 2025 4:04 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
Video: Lessons from Ukraine’s Holodomor and Soviet Communism
The Acton Institute is currently hosting an art exhibit called “Holodomor: Through the Eyes of a Child” in our Prince-Broekhuizen Gallery at the Acton Building. It features artworks created by contemporary Ukrainian memorating the great famine of the 1930s that was inflicted upon Ukraine by Stalin, resulting in the deaths of almost 7 million people by starvation. The exhibit is the brainchild of Luba Markewycz, whose aim is to shed light on this largely unknown chapter of Ukrainian history and...
The Church’s Witness to an Atomizing Culture
In an increasingly atomizing and alienating culture, what role does the church play in holding the fabric of civilization together? Over at the Evangelical Pulpit, Bart Gingerich offers a hearty response, albeit by way of answering a rather different question: Why do folks abandon the church, particularly those who still believe in Jesus? Although plenty of disaffected church-ditchers have undergone deep shifts in basic doctrine and belief, Gingerich observes that, for many, “the abandonment testimonies seem fueled more by embarrassment...
‘We Cannot Accept Trafficking’
Today, Pope Francis met with Orthodox, Anglican, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu representatives to sign a Declaration of Religious Leaders against Slavery. Pope Francis thanked those in attendance for making the mitment to end modern slavery in all its forms. He spoke of the spirit of fraternity among believers, along with the knowledge that humans, created in God’s image and likeness, deserve dignity, regardless of their circumstances. Therefore, we declare on each and every one of our creeds that modern...
Where Does Your State Rank on Economic Freedom?
The Fraser Institute has released the tenth edition of their annual report on economic freedom in North America. The report considers how such factors as size of government, takings and discriminatory taxation, and labor market freedom affect people’s freedom to choose how to produce, sell, and use their own resources, while respecting others’ rights to do the same. Read the report below to see where your state ranks. ...
What’s a Christian to make of speculation?
The practice of speculation draws mixed reactions among Christians, as some believe it is intrinsically evil and others see great ing from it. Over at Legatus Magazine, Acton’s Director of Research, Samuel Gregg, hopes to shed some light on whether or not Christians should engage in speculation. The Roman Catholic Catechism condemns specific types of speculation, but Gregg argues that the practice could be justified in other situations not addressed by the Catechism. However, before Christians accept or reject it,...
Pope Francis On Human Dignity
Pope Francis spoke to members of the European Parliament on November 25. The focus of his speech was “dignity:” specifically the transcendent dignity of the human person. He reminded his audience that the protection of dignity was key to rebuilding Europe following World War II, but now, the pope says, ” there are still too many situations in which human beings are treated as objects whose conception, configuration and utility can be programmed, and who can then be discarded when...
I’m a Giant in Japan. Or, Why Income Inequality is Irrelevant
For most of my life I was, at 5-foot-10, of exactly average height. But in the span of one day in 1989 I became freakishly tall. While I hadn’t grown an inch upward, I had moved 6,000 miles eastward to Okinawa, Japan. Since the average height of native Okinawans was only 5-foot-2, I towered over most every native islander by 8 inches. It was the equivalent of being 6-foot-6 in the United States. Unfortunately, when I would leave the towns...
Go Forth And Create
Are you creative? No, that’s not one of those silly Facebook quizzes; it’s a serious question. Would you describe yourself as “creative?” Turns out, that’s a pretty important question. Folks who study such things say that “creativity” is one of the things employers are looking for in today’s workforce, and not just in places like Silicon Valley. While we value creativity in our culture, it seems as if we’re quashing it in our kids: Common Core doesn’t exactly call for...
Greasing Palms Makes For Dirty Business
If corruption were a global industry, it would be the third largest, accounting for 5 percent of the global economy. In many parts of the world, bribery and corruption are simply considered the price of doing business. However, corruption (both in business and in politics) undermines people’s trust in these institutions. Corruption also forces many people and businesses out of the marketplace and out of the political arena: those with more money are always at an advantage. Transparency International is...
‘Mockingjay, Part 1’: More than Meets the Eye
“Mockingjay, Part 1,” the first film installment of the finale to Suzanne Collins’ massively popular young adult trilogy, The Hunger Games, has dominated the box office in its opening week and over the Thanksgiving weekend. As Brooks Barnes reported for the New York Times, “The No. 1 movie in North America was again ‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1,’ which took in an estimated $56.9 million from Friday to Sunday, according to Rentrak, a box-office tracking firm. Domestic ticket sales...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved