Interesting comparison of percentages of spending

1. Numerical percentages of spending:

A. National Defense: There are several answers to this question, as both what is counted as defense and what is counted as total spending have multiple answers.

This site, http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/us_military_spending_30.html, says that the federal government spent $964.8 billion total on defense in Fiscal Year 2011, out of 3,818.8 billion total, for a percentage of 25.26%. The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities said the U.S. in 2010 spent $705 billion, or about 20% of the budget, on “defense and security-related international activities,” using a budget total of $3.5 trillion.

Here is an enlightening article about the debate about how a percentage of defense spending is calculated and the political and ideological ramifications: http://thinkprogress.org/security/2011/07/28/281841/fpi-hides-massive-military-spending-growth-by-framing-dod-budget-as-percentage-of-gdp-total-federal-spending/

The article, on the website for the liberal Center for American Progress, criticizes attempts by Foreign Policy Hawks to say that defense spending is staying neutral. Meanwhile a more conservative website, newsobserver.com, has this op-ed by the CEO of a defense contractor, arguing “deficits don’t stem from defense”. This is his argument, in which he acknowledges his bias without admitting that it might color his judgment: “As CEO of an aerospace and defense parts manufacturer, I am deeply concerned by the prospect of significant cuts to our national defense. At 4.9 percent, defense spending as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product is already below the postwar average of 5.3 percent. The U.S. aerospace and defense industry employs more than 800,000 high-skilled workers, and indirectly supports another 2 million jobs.” He does not source his information on defense spending as 4.9% of GDP. The CIA World Factbook, which apparently has not updated its number since 2005, says that the U.S. spends 4.06% of its GDP on defense. Of course a key question is what officially is counted as defense.

B. Medicaid, federal vs. state: As of 2009, the combined cost of Medicaid was $380.1 billion, with the federal government paying about two-thirds (66%), and the state governments paying about one-third (34%), according to the National Health Policy Forum of February 2011

There are contrasting changes to this ratio due to health care reform and then the current deficit-cutting emphasis in Washington.

On the side of cuts to the federal role is that both Obama and the Republicans have proposed varying cuts to federal aid to states on Medicaid, so the states are banding together to resist these changes, cutting across party lines, as described in this article.

On the side that the federal government will increase its role, this 2010 report, Medicaid and the Uninsured by the Urban Institute addresses the changes to Medicaid as a result of health care reform; it is being expanded, and it finds that “the federal government will pay a very high share of new Medicaid costs in all states,” 95.4% of all new Medicaid spending, with the result that “increases in state spending are small compared to increases in coverage.”

C. Education, federal vs. state vs. local:

In Fiscal Year 2009, out of a total of $550 billion spent, state governments spent 47%, state governments 44%, and the federal government 10% of elementary and secondary education spending, according to this report by the moderate New America Foundation. See the pie chart on the link. The article says that until the 1970s local governments did most of the funding, with states only supporting, but then major changes in that decade saw states overtaking local governments.