Portrait of the US as a young man...

Dear Congressman,

As you are well aware, we are all headed for the ballot box next Tuesday. Between you, me, and the wall, I would prefer to continue writing this blog to your attention. However, looking at the polls, it does not look to good for that particular prospect.

In the meantime, the TV airwaves are dominated with political ads, as candidates pitch their positions and slag their opponents using bold sweeping statements and quickly moving graphics. One that kept sticking in my mind was the consistent pitch of your Republican opponents, who are running out that tried and dependable fallback banner ad of "cut taxes" and "reduce big government".

Must sound good to some voters as this appears to be the complete platform of the Tea Party. The problem is that everyone speaks in short sentences and no one appears to dig into the numbers and actually look at them. Most likely because this would be the surest way not to get elected.

So, since I am not running for anything and don't plan on running for anything in this lifetime or the next, I decided to visit the Office of Management & Budget and pull the numbers myself.

Lets pretend that Uncle Sam is a rich rodeo clown living in a rich suburb of Atlanta and earning exactly $1 million per year. Using 2009 numbers, here is a breakdown of his salary:

Individual Income Tax receipts: $466,320
Social Security receipts: $351,628
Corporate Income Tax receipts: $125,640
Other $ 56,412

Total: $ 1,000,000

Now, the problem with our rich rodeo clown model is that he spends more then he earns. Then again, isn't that what our economy is based on?

Uncle Sam the rodeo clown spent $ 1,150,895 in 2009. Here is a breakdown of the highlights:

Military Spending $ 294,153
Medicare & Medicaid $ 273,573
Social Security $ 256,592
Interest on debt $ 202,893
Everything Else $ 123,684
Total : $ 1,150,894

Now, since Uncle Sam is so far underwater with expenses vs. income, someone needs to explain how cutting taxes is going to fix this problem? I believe the fall back is that it will stimulate the economy and grow the tax base. So we are going to make it up on volume? Uhhh... doubtful.

Now the "big government" argument holds some merit, as the US government is the largest employer in the US and has the highest payroll, but as you can see by the expense numbers, all the income is spent on Military, Medicare, Social Security, and debt payments (aka the Big 4). I used $1million as a benchmark for a reason, to show that 103% of receipts go to fund the Big 4, so the remaining "big government" amount of 12.4% is not so big a piece of the pie.

In a nutshell, here is what needs to happen to fix things:

either
1. raise taxes to pay the bills
2. cut spending in the big 4

or
3. some combination of 1 & 2

Like I said, I would never get elected with that platform, because it is by the numbers...