Shame on you.
The US spent 629 billion on Medicare alone in 2024.
https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/americas-finance-guide/federal-spending/
Don’t fall for falsified data.
This is discretionary spending
Edit: I have no idea why this is getting downvotes.
Because making this distinction (apparently for no reason at all except that it provides a misleading way to present data that have nothing to do with the reality) is a bunch of bullshit.
If you had said “here is how this data is false and what is the real information” I think you would be getting upvotes
This may not be the intent on your part, but it kinda comes across like “oh this data isn’t a TOTAL bunch of bullshit, and here is a random arbitrary distinction underlying it which wasn’t mentioned which totally makes it make sense to present these numbers this way,” and my guess is you’re getting downvotes because if that were what you were saying, that would be simply doubling down on the dishonesty of the original chart, and people are downvoting it for dishonesty
Because making this distinction (apparently for no reason at all except that it provides a misleading way to present data
Congress/the President don’t pass budgetary acts to set non-discretionary spending. The income/costs are statuary, and so their changes aren’t tied to the horse trading that routinely occurs as part of the appropriations process.
here is a random arbitrary distinction underlying it
The Appropriations Committee holds enormous influence over our national budgetary agenda precisely because they dictate how much money is made available to the various agencies. This isn’t random or arbitrary, it is fundamental to how Congress functions under Article One of the US Constitution.
This is where the “GOTV WE NEED TO FIX THINGS” rhetoric rubber hits the fucking road. You’re not going to change how Social Security or Medicare operates from cycle to cycle, but you absolutely are going to change how the Dep of Ed, the Highway and Transportation Administration, and the Pentagon function.
This chart is misleading. It just shows “discretionary” spending which leaves out Medicare Social Security, and Medicaid. (We spend considerably more on those programs than the entire military)
