# Interesting way to look at US government sending

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-way-to-look-at-us-government-sending/784735>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [April 18, 2017, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-way-to-look-at-us-government-sending/784735 "2017-04-18T20:06:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\
**Post date:** [April 18, 2017, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-way-to-look-at-us-government-sending/784735/1 "2017-04-18T20:06:07Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> After talking with his wife on how hard it is to find government data Steve Ballmer spent $ 10 million and launched USA Facts today.

> **[Government Revenue & Expenditures](https://usafacts.org/visualizations/the-big-picture/)**
>
> The visualization below presents combined federal, state, and local government revenue and spending to show the big picture of where government money comes from and where it goes.

Really clean presentation of where your money goes - quickly noted that, as Trump berates some NATO allies for not spending 2% GDP on military, the USA spends a bracing 14%.

Also noted that the US spends 9.5% of GDP on Medicare, which is in excess of the NHS’s budget for the entire population (assuminh we are comparing apples with apples).

Anyway, £302 billion a year on interest payments - in a time of very low interest - seems … _a lot_.

It’s kind of fun. Honestly 🙂

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**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\
**Post date:** [April 18, 2017, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-way-to-look-at-us-government-sending/784735/2 "2017-04-18T20:19:29Z")

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You must be misreading the numbers, or they are wrong. US does not spend anywhere near 14% of GDP on defense.

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**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\
**Post date:** [April 18, 2017, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-way-to-look-at-us-government-sending/784735/3 "2017-04-18T21:21:57Z")

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Yeah, he probably meant 14% of the federal budget, not GDP.