Shocking Revelations About What the Treasury Pays Out...and Who Gets It
A recent article I read said the U.S. Treasury makes 100 million payments a year. A HUNDRED MILLION! Who knew?
After recovering from the shock, I started wondering what the heck they pay out and to whom. I couldn't find a list of the 100 million individual payments of course, but you can get some idea of what's going on by looking at how much the government takes in, how much it pays out and - at least - the different categories of recipients of those 100 million payments. So here goes.
The latest numbers available are from 2010.
The federal government took in approximately $2,165,100,000,000. That's two trillion, one hundred sixty-five billion, one hundred million dollars.
The federal government paid out $3,720,700,000,000. That's three trillion, seven hundred twenty billion, seven hundred million dollars.
So, first of all, you see how we came up with that deficit last year (2010) of $1,555,600. That's one trillion, five hundred fifty-five billion, six hundred million dollars.
Now, out of those $3.7 trillion of outlays, individuals received about $2,393,400,000,000. That leaves about $1,327,300,000,000 for payments to national defense, federal agencies, etc.
So what do you notice here? It looks like almost 65% of all outlays are paid directly to individuals. That would be stuff like Social Security, Medicare, unemployment payments and so much more. The important point is that these are checks that go to individual Americans.
With all the talk about cutting the deficit and reducing the national debt - all talk so far, by the way - you have to wonder where these cuts are going to come from. Not that we couldn't use cuts to our defense budget (it's more than all other countries in the world put together), the federal bureaucracy, etc. Of course we could and should cut there.
But what do you do about all those individuals who get checks? Remember all those people now receiving checks are voters. Do you think anyone getting a check from the federal government thinks they shouldn't be receiving it? Okay, so maybe a few do. But, really, if someone's on Medicare and they just got a check to pay for their doctor or hospital bills, do you really think they're going to want to give up that check? (Again, maybe a few might feel this way.)
And remember that those individual payments of almost $2.4 trillion exceed what the government takes in (around $2.17 trillion) by over $200 billion. (Again, that doesn't count the money that goes to non-individuals: defense, bureaucracy, etc.)
So even if you literally shut down every single government agency - every one - even if you closed all those fancy buildings in D.C., closed down the national parks...well, you get the idea, right? Even if everything was shut down, including the White House and the Capitol, you'd still have to come up with more money than the government takes in to pay out all those checks to individuals - each of whom votes.
And because each of these recipients vote, you've got to think that they're not really interested in voting for a congressman who cuts whatever program it is that provides the check they receive. Is that a fair assumption?
Now what do you suppose politicians will come up with to address this incredible over-spending? Really, do you have any brilliant suggestions? 'Cause I've got to tell you, it sure beats me.
So if they don't come up with anything on their own, that leaves one option: crisis. I'm not talking about this debt-ceiling stuff that the media had such a field day with last summer. And I'm not even talking about the crisis that began in 2008 - the one we're in right now. Because, let's face it, nothing's being resolved as a result of what happened in 2008.
So if the stock market and just about every other asset falling as much as 60% or more, if the collapse of two of the oldest powerhouse investment banks (Bear Sterns and Lehman Brothers), the largest commercial bank collapse in U.S. history (Washington Mutual), the collapse of America's largest brokerage operation - Merrill Lynch - the collapse of America's largest property and casualty insurer, AIG (all of which happened in 2008, in case you've forgotten) - wasn't enough of a crisis to force the government to stop spending us into oblivion, what do you suppose might be?
Do you really want to find out?
After recovering from the shock, I started wondering what the heck they pay out and to whom. I couldn't find a list of the 100 million individual payments of course, but you can get some idea of what's going on by looking at how much the government takes in, how much it pays out and - at least - the different categories of recipients of those 100 million payments. So here goes.
The latest numbers available are from 2010.
The federal government took in approximately $2,165,100,000,000. That's two trillion, one hundred sixty-five billion, one hundred million dollars.
The federal government paid out $3,720,700,000,000. That's three trillion, seven hundred twenty billion, seven hundred million dollars.
So, first of all, you see how we came up with that deficit last year (2010) of $1,555,600. That's one trillion, five hundred fifty-five billion, six hundred million dollars.
Now, out of those $3.7 trillion of outlays, individuals received about $2,393,400,000,000. That leaves about $1,327,300,000,000 for payments to national defense, federal agencies, etc.
So what do you notice here? It looks like almost 65% of all outlays are paid directly to individuals. That would be stuff like Social Security, Medicare, unemployment payments and so much more. The important point is that these are checks that go to individual Americans.
With all the talk about cutting the deficit and reducing the national debt - all talk so far, by the way - you have to wonder where these cuts are going to come from. Not that we couldn't use cuts to our defense budget (it's more than all other countries in the world put together), the federal bureaucracy, etc. Of course we could and should cut there.
But what do you do about all those individuals who get checks? Remember all those people now receiving checks are voters. Do you think anyone getting a check from the federal government thinks they shouldn't be receiving it? Okay, so maybe a few do. But, really, if someone's on Medicare and they just got a check to pay for their doctor or hospital bills, do you really think they're going to want to give up that check? (Again, maybe a few might feel this way.)
And remember that those individual payments of almost $2.4 trillion exceed what the government takes in (around $2.17 trillion) by over $200 billion. (Again, that doesn't count the money that goes to non-individuals: defense, bureaucracy, etc.)
So even if you literally shut down every single government agency - every one - even if you closed all those fancy buildings in D.C., closed down the national parks...well, you get the idea, right? Even if everything was shut down, including the White House and the Capitol, you'd still have to come up with more money than the government takes in to pay out all those checks to individuals - each of whom votes.
And because each of these recipients vote, you've got to think that they're not really interested in voting for a congressman who cuts whatever program it is that provides the check they receive. Is that a fair assumption?
Now what do you suppose politicians will come up with to address this incredible over-spending? Really, do you have any brilliant suggestions? 'Cause I've got to tell you, it sure beats me.
So if they don't come up with anything on their own, that leaves one option: crisis. I'm not talking about this debt-ceiling stuff that the media had such a field day with last summer. And I'm not even talking about the crisis that began in 2008 - the one we're in right now. Because, let's face it, nothing's being resolved as a result of what happened in 2008.
So if the stock market and just about every other asset falling as much as 60% or more, if the collapse of two of the oldest powerhouse investment banks (Bear Sterns and Lehman Brothers), the largest commercial bank collapse in U.S. history (Washington Mutual), the collapse of America's largest brokerage operation - Merrill Lynch - the collapse of America's largest property and casualty insurer, AIG (all of which happened in 2008, in case you've forgotten) - wasn't enough of a crisis to force the government to stop spending us into oblivion, what do you suppose might be?
Do you really want to find out?
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