News What did the average taxpayer's $13,112 go towards in 2007?

[Cyrus]

Well when none of my facts were refuted, I got to interject something else so maybe you can tackle that..

None of your facts were refuted because you took known facts and then drew your own bogus conclusion. We've already been though this once already.

You know the fact about the prison camps having no reasonable explanation just stands there. I speculate what the reason for those prison camps might be but I'm just a crackpot conspiracy theorist. Yet no OTHER theory exists for why the government is building those detention centers.. So yeah when the topic isn't being talked about..

I never said they have no reasonable explanation. YOU did. It doesn't stand anywhere. It is exactly your specualtion that makes your theory a crackpot one at best.

The topic is that our taxpayer dollars are being spent on building these detention centers. I'd like to know why our dollars are being spent as such.

I suggest you write to your congressman.

As you're unable to answer this other than to refer me to the DHS, (the DHS stated by the way their reason was "new programs", I already checked with them).. And nobody can tell me what those new programs might be.

Then why do you want me to tell you? Didnt you comprehend that I don't work at the DHS and that I can't speak for them?

So I speculate on the new programs and I'm a conspiracy theorist. Got it. Even though no one ever came forward with a reasonable conclusion yet.

Yes, you are.

You can't have an alternate theory without an official theory yet in place.

At least with the 9/11 conspiracy theory, there still is the official government explanation for how it happened. Yet regarding these "new programs" for these detention centers.

What else can we do other than guess why our government is spending our tax money on them? Considering the government hasn't yet told us their true purpose.

Again, write to your congressman.

 

[drankin]

Well when none of my facts were refuted, I got to interject something else so maybe you can tackle that.. You know the fact about the prison camps having no reasonable explanation just stands there. I speculate what the reason for those prison camps might be but I'm just a crackpot conspiracy theorist. Yet no OTHER theory exists for why the government is building those detention centers.. So yeah when the topic isn't being talked about..

The topic is that our taxpayer dollars are being spent on building these detention centers. I'd like to know why our dollars are being spent as such.

As you're unable to answer this other than to refer me to the DHS, (the DHS stated by the way their reason was "new programs", I already checked with them).. And nobody can tell me what those new programs might be.

So I speculate on the new programs and I'm a conspiracy theorist. Got it. Even though no one ever came forward with a reasonable conclusion yet.

You can't have an alternate theory without an official theory yet in place.

At least with the 9/11 conspiracy theory, there still is the official government explanation for how it happened. Yet regarding these "new programs" for these detention centers.

What else can we do other than guess why our government is spending our tax money on them? Considering the government hasn't yet told us their true purpose.

Where are the actual locations of these detention camps?

If there are camps, I'd suspect it is in preparation for a possible war with a middle eastern country that may have militants within or borders. Pure speculation, of course. Surely our own prison system could not handle it if needed. There is your alternate theory.

Again, where are these camps at?

 

[wildman]

It is interesting that the money going to welfare to the poor was about 8%. In other words, if we are going to balance the budget, that is not where to look for savings...

Unfortunately for me, the place to cut is in the military and everyone knows it. I am afraid that we in the defense industry are in for some hard times...

 

[Futobingoro]

Defense spending as a percentage of the budget has been at all-time lows over the past 15 years. Cutting defense spending would yield much less than you might think.

It is easy to decry the $500+ billion that is spent on defense each year. A "billion" is that "big" number on the sign at McDonald's. So naturally, people get out their calculators and see how many schools, years of college tuition, etc. $500 billion can buy. However, this analysis is done in absolute terms (dollars), not relative terms (percentage of the budget).

Defense spending is expected to remain at about 20% of budget outlays for the next several years (as seen starting on page 51 of http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2009/pdf/hist.pdf , about 2/3 of the way down each page). Arguably, this figure should be higher due to:

-discretionary spending (of which defense receives the lion's share)
-the expenses of civilian intelligence agencies and homeland security
-defense-related projects in the Department of Energy, NASA, and other agencies

However, even acknowledging those factors, defense spending as a percentage of expenditures has seen a marked decline over the past 70 years.

 

[RonPaul2008]

I can think of plenty of possible solutions to ease the tax pain. Most will probably never happen as long as men are corrupt, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions so let's start with government spending on foreign aid, since we're all paying out of our hard earned money for little kids somewhere in Africa or Iraq to eat when they should be feeding themselves -

- end foreign aid and adopt a non-intervention policy for our government, but at the same time let free market buy and sell to who they want and who can afford it. If people are starving, volunteer groups and charities can help their neighbors from other nations with their own funds. Charity will take care of it.

-end welfare! Work for your living! If you can't find work, learn something valuable. Still can't find work? Start a business if you can afford it.

-pay off social security to those who have paid into it and phase it out. People need to learn to plan and save for their own retirement.

-end medicaid and have the government stop interfering with insurance and medical industries. We live in a capital society, so let supply and demand determine who receives medical treatment and drugs.

-bring our brave young men and women home from Iraq, and put them to better use in protecting us from the terrorists who may try to harm us by crossing the southern or northern border.

-cut ties with the UN, shut down foreign military bases or charge the foreign governments for profit to keep them operational, and regroup the military into a self-defense force. With all the foreign bases shut down, we can downsize our military and thus cut taxes further.

- flat tax rate

 

[mathwonk]

tweet tweet. mental, let's get back somewhere near reality.