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points by Ntrails 3 days ago | 0 comments

And yet the number of projects with similarly insignificant costs is large, and they do add up.

The argument cannot be "this money doesn't matter", it has to be "this represents good value for money" (imo)

They literally don’t add up. Just look at a pie chart of the US government budget. The administrative state is a bargain.

Departments like the EPA are so small that they have to be put in the “other” umbrella that makes up 1% of federal spending (go to the Agency tab):

https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/americas-finance-guide/feder...

[–] xtiansimon 2 days ago

Just a note that pie charts are not well regarded in this application.

Stephen Few, “Save the Pies for Dessert” (https://www.perceptualedge.com/articles/visual_business_inte...)

Edward Tufte, “The only worse design than a pie chart is several of them.”

The “1% other” is more compelling.

[–] Grombobulous 2 days ago

The link I shared wasn't even a pie chart, so when I said "pie chart" I was speaking in a colloquial sense.

[–] pestat0m 3 days ago

sad, the spending chart doesn't load in my version of firefox, and both links in the caption also have page-load issues. very sad.

[–] Sabinus 3 days ago

Works for me on 158.0.1

[–] ninjagoo 3 days ago

> "this represents good value for money" (imo)

Wouldn't you say this archive represents good value for the money?

A nation that forgets its past is a nation that repeats its mistakes.

[–] Ntrails 2 days ago

> Wouldn't you say this archive represents good value for the money?

Yes, that's the point. Not "this is so cheap it's irrelevant" but "this is an important resource worth funding".

[–] blurbleblurble 3 days ago

This is so disingenuous. We all know where the money goes.

[–] mnky9800n 3 days ago

The checks that add up are the social security checks cashed by the quarter or so of baby boomers who don’t need them.

[–] no-name-here 3 days ago

Is the suggestion that social security (a (progressive) program where people largely pay in) should be replaced with a welfare type program? Or if we're just talking about biggest expenditures, things like the 1) Medicare, 2) other gov health spending, and 3) interest paid on the debt are far larger than the item your comment mentioned.

[–] expedition32 3 days ago

A program that is only used by poor people will immediately be scrapped. Never underestimate the seething hatred that the middle class has for the underclass. Besides all that social security money goes straight into the economy.