Death and taxes 2007

02006-09-20 | Musings | 9 comments

Death and taxes 2007 | Gristmill: The environmental news blog | Grist
Want a truly horrifying look at where your tax money goes? Visit Death and Taxes 2007, where they have a big graph that can (fair warning) suck up an hour of your time. It breaks down federal discretionary spending visually, which gives a real, immediate sense of our priorities.

Well, it’s really not rocket science, is it. I remember having this discussion with my dad over thirty years ago… I was 15 or 16 and said something like this: If a nation prioritizes the military at the expense of education we eventually have idiots with a huge arsenal of weapons. If on the other hand we prioritize education over military we have a very intelligent community that can deal with whatever problems might arise.

Certainly, a healthy balance has to be found, but it seems to me that education is underfunded.

9 Comments

  1. Carol

    Also I wish the teaching profession was idealized more. If they had more documentaries, etc. showing the accomplishments and the satisfaction from helping others learn maybe it would be esteemed more and attract the intelligent creative people needed. Too long it’s been treated as a job instead of a profession.

    Reply
  2. Luz

    Ditto on what Carol said! No one bats an eye when an athelete signs a multimillion dollar contract but when it comes time to pay our teachers more….that’s too much money! Our budgets have continually been slashed since the war started and way too many programs have been cut. Sadly, it will only get worse before it gets better-if ever!

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  3. Karen Sturgill

    I like the way your Dad thinks…and also, enjoy your upcoming journey.

    Reply
  4. Carol

    If we would listen and follow what many idealistic 15 and 16 year olds suggest, we might have the right perspective on things.

    Reply
  5. marc-n-tx

    Luz-
    You can not compare teacher pay to that of “pro” athletes. Teacher pay is based mostly on scales devised by elected officals and funded by tax dollars, while the huge contracts given to “pro” althetes are dictated by a public’s appetite for entertainment in a free-market economy.

    I do wish teachers were paid better. Hell, it would help out in my household since my wife is a teacher. There are PLENTY of spending areas in our government that I think could be done away with and given to education. I just have to disagree and say that one of those areas is not defense.

    The main purpose of our government is the to defend the Constitution of the United States from enemies both foreign and domestic. I baffles me that people want to cut defense spending to fund some other cause, as if the govt’s main cause is its only cause. There are more programs out there that we can do without to help fund education. Defense just seems to be a big, bad, easy target. Sad.

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  6. ottmar

    I baffles me that people want to cut defense spending to fund some other cause, as if the govt’s main cause is its only cause.
    What is the main cause of government? Defense? If you think that is the main cause you should be very happy as defense receives more attention and money than anything else. Some think that defense receives too much, something that is clearly demonstrated by the video linked in the original post. Did you watch it? I think defense is indeed a big, bad and easy target.

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  7. marc-n-tx

    I believe that national defense is the government’s main purpose. Without it, what can we look forward to? Most of this nation’s enemies could care less about feeding the poor, educating the people, protecting the innocent, the list can go on and on. I do not want to give up my way of life because some religious freaks in the middle east do not agree with “western values” and would be willing to take their own life in order to end mine or yours. And radical Islam is but one small example to the danger to the United States. There are countless other individuals, religious groups, business groups, crime organizations, countries, ect…that would perfer the United States to be something less than it has become, or even for it to not exist at all. Our defense largely (no pun intended) keeps those entities from trying to carry out actions against the US that we may deem harmful. This is due mainly to the size and scope of our defense, although it (our defense) is not perfect. Cutting its spending would not bring it any closer to perfection either. One thing that we may both agree on though is the amount of wasteful spending that does take place in this, as well as all other areas of govt spending. Our focus should be on making people in govt more accountable for the actions and attacking waste, then we would have more money to use on other programs. Hey, we might even get a tax cut (wishful thinking)!

    sidebar—-OL-absolutely love your music! Me and my wife have been blessed enough to see you and LN perform on three occasions (Houston and Crocket) and we look forward to seeing many more in the future. May God continue to bless you and your artisty.

    Reply
  8. ottmar

    Marc-n-tx – well, at least you and I can agree on one thing: I make great music :)

    Reply
  9. marc-n-tx

    No doubt about that. :-)

    Reply

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