MetaFilter posts tagged with spending

US Military Cuts And A Step Towards Equality

zarq — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:00:55 -0800

Yesterday, US President Obama signed a $680bn military policy bill, which cuts military spending, including $2bn in funding for new F-22 fighter jets. However, the bill also contained the first major piece of federal gay rights legislation, and fulfilled an Obama campaign promise: acts of violence against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people have now been added to the list of federal hate crimes.

Don't worry, it's monopoly money anyway.

Justinian — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:59:03 -0800

Overly confident in the economic health of the United States? Feeling sanguine about current spending levels? Haven't yet been scared out of your wits about your financial future? No worries! The U.S. National Debt Clock page is for you! Your one stop shop for all things financial meltdown related: Total debt, debt per citizen, budget deficits and spending year-to-date, total governmental bailouts, and much much more!

ARR! "dramatic action" ahoy :P

kliuless — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 09:41:28 -0800

President Obama's plan for American Recovery and Reinvestment [pdf] might be thought of as TARP round two [1,2] -- instead of hiding the bodies, this one's preparing the ground for a big tent or the economic equivalent of war. There are critics and detractors (cramdown nation ;) left and right, natch, but also conservative supporters and progressive defenders to save or create ~~three~~ four million jobs; hooray! ...then there's the question of how to pay for it all [entitlements, ORLY?] -- of course it pays for itself thru the (one) wonders of self-financing! like a key difference in my mind between the current situation and depression-era US or 'lost decade' Japan is reliance on external creditors to finance deficits; the dog isn't barking yet, so to speak... [personally i'm eagerly awaiting the obama corps and a (borked, esp if jerked) military/civil space elevator :]

The Next New Deal

Kwantsar — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 18:27:33 -0800

The Next New Deal With the vaunted post-Cold War "Peace dividend" evaporating, the United States found itself unable to invest adequately in either its infrastructure or its children. Eventually people began to talk of another Great Depression, before the coming of the next New Deal.

Government spending and tax levels

russilwvong — Fri, 30 May 2008 12:18:50 -0800

Want to know how government spending and taxation levels have gone up or down over the last 20 years, and how they compare with other countries? The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has a handy set of tables (Excel, HTML-ized by Google): total spending, total revenues, fiscal surplus or deficit (Norway's surplus is 17% of GDP). Part of the statistical tables for the semi-annual OECD Outlook.

Economic Consequences

homunculus — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 00:35:28 -0800

The Economic Consequences of Mr. Bush. "The next president will have to deal with yet another crippling legacy of George W. Bush: the economy. A Nobel laureate, Joseph E. Stiglitz, sees a generation-long struggle to recoup." [Via Firedoglake.]

"Of 10 governments worldwide implicated in the recruitment or use of children as soldiers, nine receive US military assistance."

chunking express — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 11:22:26 -0800

"Of 10 governments worldwide implicated in the recruitment or use of children as soldiers, nine receive US military assistance."

Two Big Steps for Transparency in Government

shoepal — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 11:38:04 -0800

How the US Federal Government spends our money. How the US Representatives spend their money.

Stocks r up!!

pwedza — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 20:36:41 -0800

Invest in immigrants!!! Business is booming!!!

Big fleece in the sky

fixedgear — Thu, 15 Dec 2005 13:07:30 -0800

William Proxmire dead at 90. The senator from Wisconsin was famous for the Golden Fleece Award

Global Military Spending Tops $1T

three blind mice — Tue, 07 Jun 2005 10:00:39 -0800

Donald Rumsfeld recently aimed critisicm at China's military spending. “Since no nation threatens China, one must wonder: Why this growing investment? Why these continuing large and expanding arms purchases?” A question he may well ask of himself. According to a report recently released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (in our fair city) Global Military Spending topped $1Trillion in 2004. The United States accounted for 47 percent of all military expenditures, while Britain and France each made up 5 percent of the total. In all, 15 countries accounted for 82 percent of the world's total military spending. The BBC reported last month that Chinese military spending increased by 12% in 2004 to $25Bn - or one twentieth of what the US spends.

Death and Taxes

Space Coyote — Mon, 03 Jan 2005 20:19:34 -0800

Death and Taxes: A Visual Look at Where Your (U.S.) Tax Dollars Go

Boondoggles and Barrels O' Pork -

piedrasyluz — Wed, 24 Nov 2004 08:01:37 -0800

Federal Business Opportunities

Ever wanted to know where all your tax dollars really go? Mosey on over to FedBizOpps.gov and search the nice little database they've got there for all those federal business opportunities you just can't wait to bid on....How about making a wearable computer for the Navy? Want to perform for the USO? How about getting paid to surf the intarwebs to defeat the terrorists? The Special Operations Command has the job for you! Looking to unload 30 million tons of beef? You've got a buyer! Gather wild horses for the Dept of Ag! Haul carcasses in the search for mad cow disease! Oh, and by the way, the Iraqi Army needs some clarinets...

Accountability? We don't need no stinkin' accountability!

bshort — Thu, 18 Sep 2003 14:37:10 -0800

Where is our money going? According to the Congressional Budget Office, not only is the Bush administration asking for 87 billion dollars to cover Iraqi reconstruction, but they're also unable to account for 2.5 billion of the 4 billion dollars that they're spending per month in Iraq.

Krugman on Iraq

skallas — Sat, 30 Aug 2003 14:23:25 -0800

Krugman on Iraq "The direct military cost of the occupation is $4 billion a month, and there's no end in sight. But that's only part of the bill. This week Paul Bremer suddenly admitted that Iraq would need "several tens of billions" in aid next year. That remark was probably aimed not at the public but at his masters in Washington; he apparently needed to get their attention."

Political Fratricide

hairyeyeball — Tue, 01 Apr 2003 23:38:59 -0800

Political Fratricide: The GOP is reportedly [+] proposing $15 billion of cuts — or is it $25? — in veterans' benefits between now and 2007, and groups like the Veterans Against the Iraq War are hopping mad. Hell, I imagine the pro-war wing is pretty peeved, too. It's part of a plan with delusions of grandeur to deliver massive tax cuts AND kill the deficit ... you know, the one that did not exist before W was elected, as I understand it ... in six years. The original tip is from Stand Down. The actual status of the cuts is nebulous at this point, however, with the SF Chron reporting that they will likely fail in the Senate as the tax cut is halved and others reporting that the die is not yet cast. The House budget resolution, for metafilter accountants who like these things, is here.

What should the Federal Government do about Education

314/ — Fri, 07 Feb 2003 12:13:27 -0800

The US Department of Education - Or Not?
A link or two for those who don't own a television. Or a Michael Jackson CD.
Reaction to federal initiatives like No Child Left Behind (which is directed purely at education, and has been discussed here before ) and Head Start (which has a social component, and has not (I think)) is starting to filter in.
Should the Federal Government worry about disparities in educational expenditures? Should it worry about how services are delivered?

School budget

semmi — Fri, 24 Jan 2003 10:09:32 -0800

An imaginative solution to California's school budget crisis.

military pay raises

nofundy — Mon, 23 Dec 2002 07:51:22 -0800

"Hang in there, help is on the way."

The director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, Mitchell E. Daniels Jr., recently asked the Defense Department to lower the 2004 pay raise from its expected 3.7 percent to 2 percent. Daniels also wants future raises tied to inflation, rather than basing boosts on what civilians doing comparable jobs in the private sector might make.

Many of our military families already qualify for welfare and food stamps. Pay raises are out of the question when there's NMD and tax cuts to the wealthy needing funding.

SandeepKrishnamurthy — Fri, 13 Sep 2002 08:46:30 -0800

Welcome to the State Department... I mean, the Republican Party. "For some time, travelers browsing the State Department Web site for helpful tips about Guadalajara, Mexico, found much more than they bargained for when they clicked on a photograph of President Bush. The click transported them to a partisan playground, where they were told how to get involved with the Republican Party and even how to donate money to it." (Why does nytimes.com have all the good stories?- metafilter, metafilter)

mediareport — Tue, 10 Sep 2002 09:06:50 -0800

"All this costs money. It costs more than we have." One year ago today, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned of a "subtle and implacable" adversary whose "brutal consistency...stifles free thought...and places the lives of men and women in uniform at risk." It wasn't freedom's obvious foes; he was referring to waste in the Pentagon. The DOD uses so many different financial systems and interfaces it won't have auditable books for another five to 10 years. It still manually enters purchases made with electronic purchase cards. It fires whistleblowers who call attention to shady missile defense deals. And every year, it completely loses track of a quarter of the world's biggest military budget.

mathowie — Fri, 16 Aug 2002 16:03:02 -0800

Earlier this week, Bush blocked $5.1 billion in emergency spending, which most visibly included denying a couple hundred million earmarked for firefighters and emergency services. While he claims the block was to curtail wasteful spending, the biggest waste that keeps getting quoted is the new insect collections room at the smithsonian, even though his office specifically requested the money for his budget request for fiscal 2003. If the only example of wasteful spending was something he requested previously, what was the point of blocking the funds? [more inside]

insomnyuk — Thu, 18 Jul 2002 07:25:43 -0800

The U.S. Army pays for lapdances. "In addition to the inappropriate purchases, the GAO said more than 1,200 Army employees wrote bad checks to pay their government credit card bills. Last year alone, that cost taxpayers $3.8 million in higher fees and lost rebates." You mean, the government practices bad accounting? Ron Paul points out that the Congress commits the worst accounting fraud of all. But the most important issue of all is, with the government paying for Strip Club tips, gambling, and wine, does this mean that God will no longer bless America?

Reggie452 — Mon, 08 Jul 2002 11:25:11 -0800

You're the king of a small african nation. You have an annual health budget of $15 million. Two-thirds of the people in your nation are HIV positive, and two-thirds are living below the poverty line. What do you do? Why, you buy a $31 million private jet, of course!

magullo — Mon, 10 Jun 2002 08:30:45 -0800

Jaw-drop-inducing link of the day The federal government spent $62 million on a building to store and treat low-level radioactive waste at a California nuclear weapons laboratory, then decided the structure wasn't secure enough. So where is the waste kept now?

MetaFilter posts tagged with spending

US Military Cuts And A Step Towards Equality

Don't worry, it's monopoly money anyway.

ARR! "dramatic action" ahoy :P

The Next New Deal

Government spending and tax levels

Economic Consequences

"Of 10 governments worldwide implicated in the recruitment or use of children as soldiers, nine receive US military assistance."

Two Big Steps for Transparency in Government

Stocks r up!!

Big fleece in the sky

Global Military Spending Tops $1T

Death and Taxes

Boondoggles and Barrels O' Pork -

Accountability? We don't need no stinkin' accountability!

Krugman on Iraq

Political Fratricide

What should the Federal Government do about Education

School budget

military pay raises

... Right outside the new building, under tents.