Where Does the Money Go?: Your Guided Tour to the Federal Budget Crisis

Federal spending continues to grow year after year and most Americans are fully aware of the budget problems faced by the Federal government and how the government almost always spends more money than it collects in revenue. But in spite of what we know, most Americans don’t make many demands on politicians to solve the budget problem. Content to push the problem to another year, most Americans sit back and listen to the dismal fiscal news, but do little or nothing to work for change. Authors Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson are fully aware of this apathy on the part of the public and they wrote this book to explain the budget process in a way that most anyone can understand; with the ultimate goal being a better understanding of the budget problems and a more activist mindset on the part of the public.

This book was written to enlighten people about the United States federal budget and it accomplishes this goal with both simplicity and style. As everyone knows, the federal budget of the United States is gigantic- the largest government budget in the world with revenues and spending levels that make it several times larger than even the largest corporation. These larger than life numbers often create confusion on the part of the public, and one of the main goals of this book is to put the numbers into perspective so that readers will understand them. Through the use of graphs, charts, and comparisons, the authors succeed at making the numbers understandable. For example, there is one section that helps the reader understand how much a billion dollars is by showing what this amount of money could buy. To quote one example, a billion dollars is enough to pay the college tuition for 45,000 people at a private university for one year. To understand how large a trillion is, you have to multiple this figure 1000 times, resulting in some mind- numbing figures. Now, when you consider that the United States total debt is more than nine trillion dollars, you can understand more fully just how serious the problem is.

When “Where Does Your Money Go”? isn’t directly educating the reader on the actual dollars spent on different programs and the tax revenues used to pay these bills, the book is playing the role of activist. The authors want you, the reader, to understand how important it is to resolve this crisis and they want you to take a more active role by contacting your Congressperson and other elected officials and letting them know that deficit spending has to stop. The majority of the public doesn’t consider the national debt to be a big deal because they either don’t understand the magnitude of the problem or they just assume the problem can be postponed another year. Because of this, most Americans do not discuss the issue much and politicians are thus not likely to make deficit reduction and fiscal discipline a regular part of their campaigning. This book wants to bring out the activist in everyone by stressing the importance of getting the budget crisis under control. The book doesn’t do this in an alarmist way, and I greatly respect the authors for that. However, the book is still very firm in its resolve and the authors feel that we must do everything we can to tame the budget beast before it consumes us all.

Every chapter in this book has something to offer, and one of the more creative is chapter sixteen. Here, the authors include an itemized list, by category, of the actual 2006 budget, including the amounts spent in each area, the pros and cons for each, and the identification of specific groups who would likely cry foul if the program was reduced in size. Tax statistics are also given and it is then up to you, the reader, to come up with a plan of program reductions and/or tax increases that would get the budget deficit under control. This may seem easy enough at first, but when you start to think about the different programs and what they mean to different people, as well as the possibility that taxes may need to be raised and the political fallout from such a move, the process becomes much more difficult. This was a great idea to include this in the book, and the authors should be commended for doing so. Once you try your luck at budget- balancing, the process takes on a whole new meaning.

Overall, “Where Does the Money Go?” is an excellent book about fiscal spending in Washington, the growing crisis of deficit spending, and the long- term implications if we continue to walk down the same path. The book takes a sometimes difficult subject and makes it easy to understand, while also educating the reader on the facts, the myths, and the problems associated with the federal budget and deficit spending. The book is complete with figures, activist information, etc., and it performs its main task with a high degree of effectiveness. It ranks as the best book I have read on the subject of federal budgets and deficits, and I recommend it to everyone.

Rating: 5 / 5

“Where Does the Money Go?” is a guide for people who care about where the country is going but don’t have the time or inclination to become budget experts. The authors point out that in 31 of the last 35 years the government in Washington, D.C. has spent more than it collected in taxes. Our federal deficit now totals $9 trillion, and will escalate as boomers retire and draw upon Social Security and Medicare. Meanwhile, more and more concern is being raised about the AMT – set to kick in at $200,000 in ‘69, and threatening more and more “middle-income” families as inflation continues.

Japan and China together hold about $1 trillion of our federal debt, with OPEC nations holding another $100 billion. Meanwhile, our personal savings rate was a minus 2% in 2006.

Major sources of federal taxes include corporate taxes (15%), personal taxes (33%), and Social Security + Medicare (33%). Major uses include defense (20%), interest (9%), Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security (40%), and discretionary spending (40%).

Probably the biggest value of “Where Does the Money Go?” lies in its objective assessment of various “quick fixes” – eg. simply let the Bush tax cuts expire (will take a long time to correct; regardless, won’t fix Medicare or Social Security), cut discretionary spending (very, very difficult), etc.
Rating: 5 / 5

Scott Bittle is an award-winning journalist as well as the executive editor of a public affairs website called Public Agenda Online. In “Where Does the Money Go?” he and his co-author Jean Johnson have put together an extremely valuable tool for American voters, especially so in this vital presidential election year. The book, as described by the authors in the preface, is “a straightforward explanation of what politicians, economists, think tanks, and lobbyists are arguing about when they fight about the federal budget.” And so it is.

Outside of global terrorism and the international need to urgently develop a winning strategy for bringing about fully functioning nation-states with liberal democratic governments, I can’t think of a more important topic for national discussion in this election year than dealing with the immense problem all Americans face with the national debt at the point it is ($9 trillion and growing!). Something simply has to be done and done quickly; an economic catastrophe for the United States looms on the near horizon.

Now, it needs to be said that Bittle and Johnson do not propose “the” solution to the problem of the growing national debt. They do an excellent job of presenting the problem (both historically and in its present manifestation), providing the reader with a multitude of statistics (with appropriate graphs and charts), and analyzing the ins and outs of various ways to approach the problem, with critiques of some solutions already suggested.

In the final pages of the book, the authors state six “realities” which every voting American ought to internalize: (1) We have to start now; (2) We have a short-term problem and a long-term problem — we need to address them both; (3) We need to address the waste, fraud, and abuse issue, and then we need to move on; (4) We need voters to demand that candidates take a stand on this issue; (5) We need to think about what we can live with — not what we personally want; and (6) To solve this problem, we need a different state of mind. In my opinion, these pretty much summarize the ideas that Americans need to face before it is too late.

If there is any good news in this book, it is that Bittle and Johnson are convinced that the federal budget problem and, therefore, the problem of the national debt, can be solved. And, furthermore, in the appendix, they provide many resources that the reader can use for more information, including websites, printed publications, groups working on the issue with varied points of view, plus resources to consult before you vote in this year’s election. Highly recommended reading — especially right now!
Rating: 5 / 5

This book is a very good overview and presentation of the problems that we face with the Federal budget. Unlike us (for the most part) the government is able to spend pretty much freely regardless of the consequences to the dollar and our economy.

This book is easy to read with good information and graphs showing what is going on and if you are not very familiar with the Federal Budget or the overall issues this book is a very good place to begin.

Easy to read and understand and reading this will give you some more awareness. Of course further reading on the subject is a good idea if you want to get more into the details – the subject matter is daunting and extensive and this book is more of a primer – but like I said a very good read regardless.

Highly recommended.
Rating: 5 / 5

I picked this up because it was a staff pick at a bookstore this summer. I consider myself reasonably well-informed on news and general economic issues, but I learned something new from every chapter of this relatively short but extremely well-written book. The authors aren’t partisan and ask thought-provoking questions throughout. I recommended it to our book group (whose usual preference is for fiction) and everyone found it worthwhile reading. Our group includes both democrats and republicans, and all of us thought the book was important, very readable, something we would recommend for everyone to read. It prompted us to talk extensively about the challenges faced by increasing national debt and deficit, and to discuss possible ways to modify social security and medicare so that the systems will remain solvent. One of the last chapters includes a detailed map of the federal budget, which we read while appreciating that Obama’s transition team must be studying exactly the same information with the charge of suggesting budgetary modifications. Highly recommended for anyone from high school to senior citizens.
Rating: 5 / 5