The fight for America's financial future has reached a fever pitch, with Republicans squaring off against Obama, and everyone squaring off against a looming deficit. Here are eight slides to help you better understand Washington's current dogfight.
At the heart of the budget debate is the deficit, most of which is a result of entitlement spending (specifically, Medicare and Medicaid). Republicans and Democrats agree that something needs to be done about America's growing debt, but which programs need to be cut is a point of contention.
Infographic source: Elefint Designs
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) introduced the GOP budget plan, "The Path to Prosperity," last Tuesday, three days before an eleventh-hour deal stalled a full government shutdown for at least five months. Ryan's plan would cut more than $4 trillion from the deficit over the next decade. The problem, as liberals see it, is that the majority of those cuts would impact programs for low-income Americans, including Pell Grants, low-income housing, and Medicaid.
Chart source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
This is a closer look at some of the programs Republicans would like to cut juxtaposed with some of America's many tax breaks for the wealthy. You can see the full graphic here.
Chart source: Center for American Progress
Here's the difference in the health spending of Obama's budget plan and Ryan's budget plan. (Obama's is represented by the blue line.) While Ryan's suggested funding levels for things like Medicare and education are indeed more conservative than the president's, there is no greater discrepancy between their budgets than in health care.
Chart source: The Washington Post
Obama and Ryan do see eye to eye on some things. Here, a depiction of their defense spending plans. As you can see, Obama actually starts out spending more than Ryan on defense, and then their plans are virtually identical for the next decade.
Chart source: The Washington Post
At more than $700 billion, Obama's defense spending in the 2012 budget accounts for nearly 20 percent of the whole. What's more, in 2010 U.S. defense spending was $698 billion, an 81-percent increase from 2001. This slide shows America's defense costs compared to those of our closest rivals.
Why is the "liberal" Obama spending so much on implements of war? "The problem is the Democrats are afraid of being branded soft on defense," says Larry Korb, a defense analyst at the Center for American Progress.
Chart source: ThinkProgress
What if we not only left defense spending alone, but also took a hands-off approach to the entire process? This graph from the Washington Post shows how the budget would balance itself if we simply "did nothing":
This nothing, for instance, includes three crucial elements: (1) All the Bush tax cuts expire, as they’re currently scheduled to do; (2) The Medicare doc fix is either implemented or its repeal is paid for over the next 70 years; and (3) the Affordable Care Act is implemented, and all of its spending targets are met and all of its taxes are collected.
Chart source: The Washington Post
But one of the problems with the "do nothing" approach is that it only works if Congress lets the Bush tax cuts expire, as they're set to do at the end of 2012. And Obama doesn't want to let all of the cuts expire. Here is a look at how our country's bottom line will suffer if he gets his way.
Chart source: Congressional Budget Office
Lastly, a reminder of some of the reasons we're in this mess, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities' analysis of estimates from the Congressional Budget Office. Want a smaller deficit? Don't invade other countries or pass substantive tax cuts, and you're well on your way.
Chart source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
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| Nine Charts to Better Understand the Budget by Cord Jefferson |
The fight for America's financial future has reached a fever pitch, with Republicans squaring off against Obama, and everyone squaring off against a looming deficit. Here are eight slides to help you better understand Washington's current dogfight.
At the heart of the budget debate is the deficit, most of which is a result of entitlement spending (specifically, Medicare and Medicaid). Republicans and Democrats agree that something needs to be done about America's growing debt, but which programs need to be cut is a point of contention.
Infographic source: Elefint Designs
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) introduced the GOP budget plan, "The Path to Prosperity," last Tuesday, three days before an eleventh-hour deal stalled a full government shutdown for at least five months. Ryan's plan would cut more than $4 trillion from the deficit over the next decade. The problem, as liberals see it, is that the majority of those cuts would impact programs for low-income Americans, including Pell Grants, low-income housing, and Medicaid.
Chart source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
This is a closer look at some of the programs Republicans would like to cut juxtaposed with some of America's many tax breaks for the wealthy. You can see the full graphic here.
Chart source: Center for American Progress
Here's the difference in the health spending of Obama's budget plan and Ryan's budget plan. (Obama's is represented by the blue line.) While Ryan's suggested funding levels for things like Medicare and education are indeed more conservative than the president's, there is no greater discrepancy between their budgets than in health care.
Chart source: The Washington Post
Obama and Ryan do see eye to eye on some things. Here, a depiction of their defense spending plans. As you can see, Obama actually starts out spending more than Ryan on defense, and then their plans are virtually identical for the next decade.
Chart source: The Washington Post
At more than $700 billion, Obama's defense spending in the 2012 budget accounts for nearly 20 percent of the whole. What's more, in 2010 U.S. defense spending was $698 billion, an 81-percent increase from 2001. This slide shows America's defense costs compared to those of our closest rivals.
Why is the "liberal" Obama spending so much on implements of war? "The problem is the Democrats are afraid of being branded soft on defense," says Larry Korb, a defense analyst at the Center for American Progress.
Chart source: ThinkProgress
What if we not only left defense spending alone, but also took a hands-off approach to the entire process? This graph from the Washington Post shows how the budget would balance itself if we simply "did nothing":
This nothing, for instance, includes three crucial elements: (1) All the Bush tax cuts expire, as they’re currently scheduled to do; (2) The Medicare doc fix is either implemented or its repeal is paid for over the next 70 years; and (3) the Affordable Care Act is implemented, and all of its spending targets are met and all of its taxes are collected.
Chart source: The Washington Post
But one of the problems with the "do nothing" approach is that it only works if Congress lets the Bush tax cuts expire, as they're set to do at the end of 2012. And Obama doesn't want to let all of the cuts expire. Here is a look at how our country's bottom line will suffer if he gets his way.
Chart source: Congressional Budget Office
Lastly, a reminder of some of the reasons we're in this mess, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities' analysis of estimates from the Congressional Budget Office. Want a smaller deficit? Don't invade other countries or pass substantive tax cuts, and you're well on your way.
Chart source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
