Where Does the Money Go?

Frequently the discussion around how the government spends our money gets bogged-down in the jargon of budget nerds with terminology like discretionary and mandatory spending.

Thee good people over at Axios along with the help of centrist think tank Third Way distilled thousands of lines of federal spending and broke it down into a chart using plain language. 

In the Third Way analysis 31 cents of each dollar the government spends consists of checks to Americans - primarily Social Security.  15 cents went to help people purchase health insurance, 12 cents to medical expenses, another 13 cents went to cover interest on the national debt,  3 cents goes to wages for military and federal law enforcement while everything else the federal government does cost 26 cents. 

Once you wrap your mind around the fact that 60 cents of every dollar is spent on health care or direct payments it makes the spending picture clearer.