Tuesday, May 5, 2009

The federal budget in scale

I really have a hard time with the federal budget, the numbers are just too big to get my brain around. For example, did you know that most Americans don’t realize that one trillion is a million million.Thankfully Terence Tao over at “What’s new” has scaled the budget to make it easier to grasp. The full article with the math of the scaling is here, but below is the outcome.

FY 2008 budget:

  • Total revenue: $75,700
    • Individual income taxes: $34,400
    • Social security & other payroll taxes: $27,000
  • Total spending: $89,500
    • Net mandatory spending: $48,000
      • Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP: $20,500
      • Social Security: $18,400
    • Net interest: $7,470
    • Net discretionary spending: $34,000
      • Department of Defense: $14,300
        • DARPA: $89
      • Global War on Terror: $4,350
      • Department of Education: $1,680
      • Department of Energy: $729
      • NASA: $519
      • Net earmarks: $495
      • NSF: $180
        • Maths & Physical Sciences: $37.50
  • Budget deficit: $13,800
  • Additional appropriations (not included in regular budget)
    • Iraq & Afghanistan: $5,640
  • Spending cuts within 90 days of Apr 20, 2009: $3

Other figures (for comparison)

  • National debt 2008: $174,000
  • National GDP 2008: $427,000
    • National population 2008: 9
    • GDP per capita 2008: $47,000
    • Land mass: 0.27 sq km (0.1 sq mi, or 68 acres)
  • World GDP 2008: $1,680,000
    • World population 2008: 204
    • GDP per capita 2008 (PPP): $10,400
    • Land mass: 4.47 sq km (1.73 sq mi)
  • World’s richest (non-rescaled) person: Bill Gates (net worth $1,200, March 2009)
  • 2008 Bailout package (TARP): $21,000 (maximum)
    • Amount spent by Dec 2008: $7,410
    • AIG bailout from TARP: $1,200
      • AIG Federal Reserve credit line: $4,320
      • AIG bonuses in 2009 Q1: $4.95
    • GM & Chrysler loans: $552
  • 2009 Stimulus package (ARRA): $23,600
    • Education: $3,000
      • “Race to the top” education fund: $150
    • Investments in scientific research: $645
    • Pandemic flu preparedness: $1.50 (was initially $27, after being dropped from FY2008 and FY2009 budgets)
      • Additional request after A(H1N1) (”swine flu”) outbreak, Apr 28: $45
    • Volcano monitoring: $0.46 (erroneously reported as $5.20)
    • Salt marsh mouse preservation (aka “Pelosi’s mouse“): $0.00 (erroneously reported as $0.90)
  • Market capitalization of NYSE
    • May 2008 (peak): $506,160
    • March 2009: $258,180
    • Largest company by market cap: Exxon Mobil (approx $10,000, Apr 2009)
  • Value of US housing stock (2007): $545,760
    • Total value of outstanding mortgages (2008): $330,000
      • Total value of sub-prime mortgages outstanding (2007 est): $39,000
      • Total value of mortgage-backed securities (2008): $267,000
  • Credit default swap contracts, total notional value:
  • US trade balance (2007)

5 comments:

  1. Pennies work.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWt8hTayupE

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow. After looking at that breakdown, I'm totally no longer upset that AIG gave les than half of one percent to their employees as bonuses to keep them working for a sinking company.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I still think the AIG bonuses were bogus.
    "Sorry guys, no bonus this year, we made some really bad choices at the executive level and lost LOTS of money. In fact, you will be lucky if we dont shut the place down."
    Then they beg for a taxpayer bailout...
    "WOOOHOOO! Bonuses for everyone! Hey you guys did a GREAT job, even though we can only stay in business due to the good graces of the taxpayers. Whatever you did last year, do it again! And to prove that we like the work that you did, here's a bonus in the range of 50% - 300% of your annual salary."

    Uhhh, no.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Employers pay retention bonuses to keep employees in time-limited or unprofitable jobs. Otherwise, as soon as a unit at a company hears that they will be shut down, the talent flies out the door, and the only people remaining are those who can’t get jobs anywhere else — not exactly the best and brightest. Most if not all of these employees agreed to work in the Financial Products division after the collapse, not before, and had nothing to do with the abuses that created it. They went there for the retention bonuses that AIG offered them as compensation as part of an employment contract.

    ReplyDelete
  5. So, AIG bonuses=bad. Lets astroturf em!!! Freddy and Fannie bonuses? I hear crickets. Wuzzup with that? No busload of paid protesters followed by a hoard of bloodthirsty press? I am SHOCKED! SHOCKED! Where is Barney Frank and Cris Dodd when ya need em? Oh. Nevermind.

    ReplyDelete