Introduction The United States Federal Government collects taxes to finance various services to the citizens. According to Rubin 2013, “Budgeting implies balance between revenues and expenditures, and it requires some kind of decision-making process.” A budget associates responsibilities to these resources, ensuring that money is available to go to war, infrastructure and to help citizens in need. Politicians, as policymakers evaluate key decision-making processes about revenues and expenditures. Resource allocation, fiscal discipline and transparency are supposed to be key factors when making decisions on behalf of the citizens who placed them in office. Many U.S. citizens are misled by politicians who camouflage the budget for their own purposes which leave many citizens uninformed and ignorant as to where and how their money is being spent. The connection between complex and unclear budgets and fiscal excesses is evident when concluding that budgets that lack transparency diminish fiscal discipline. Transparency is an important element of fiscal discipline and resource revenues and allocation. Resource Allocation Analysis It is projected In fiscal year 2015, that the federal government will spend around $3.9 trillion. When measured by the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) it will make up 21 percent of the U.S. economy. According the U.S. Treasury, resource allocation is categorized in three areas: Mandatory Spending, Discretionary Spending and interest paid on
Overspending is a pertinent problem facing the lawmakers in Congress. In 2012 discretionary spending reached $1.3 trillion and mandatory spending $2 trillion, while only bringing in $2.5 trillion in revenue. Since the turn of the century back in 2000, non-mandatory spending by the government has topped out a whopping $16.1 trillion just in the past 13 years (Boccia, Frasser & Goff 2013). This persistent overspending on programs and services that are not necessary to the functionality of the country is what is causing the deficit to rise year after year. To remedy this issue the government must either increase the revenue it brings in through taxes and trade or reduce the amount of money it spend or perhaps even both. In 2012 thirty-one cents of every dollar that Washington spent was borrowed (Boccia, Frasser & Goff 2013). Most of which went to large programs such as Social Security and Medicare and if these large, growing programs, or just the budget in general, do not undergo financial reform it could spell disaster for the economy and fiscal state of the nation.
Federal spending is a controversial topic due especially to the growing budget deficit. Millions of American citizens pay taxes each year helping to fund the Federal Budget. Although American citizens’ tax dollars are spent by the Federal Budget, how the resources are divided and spent are not always a proper reflection of how society wants the resources to be allocated. In 2013, Washington spent nearly $3.5 trillion, while only collecting $2.8 in revenue, adding billions to the budget deficit. Where do these tax dollars go? Approximately, 23% was spent on health care such as Medicare, 22% on Social Security, 19% on national defense, 19% on
All federal spending is divided into three groups by the U.S of treasury: mandatory spending, discretionary spending and interest on debt. Mandatory and discretionary spending take up more than ninety percent of all the federal spending, and these pay for all the programs the people depend on. “Discretionary spending refers to the portion of the budget that is decided by Congress through the annual appropriations process each year. These spending levels are set each year by Congress.” Congress spent $1.1 trillion in discretionary spending. The biggest part of discretionary spending is spent on the Pentagon and related military programs. Mandatory spending contains the “loved” Social Security and Medicare programs. It makes up almost for two thirds of all the federal spending. $2.45 trillion was spent in this category. Interest of debt,
The United States government was formed to create a democracy fit for the idea that they would be considered “land of the free.” Unfortunately, throughout the history of several world wide events, the intentions of the “forefathers” have strayed to manipulate events and people. The government has been accused for many past years of lying when main events strike the nation causing many tragedies as well as causing emotional anguish on the world. Many claims of false accusations are typically only made public after several years of sealed documents and evidence are put away, which indeed could be a conspiracy of its own. Conspiracies have been made throughout the course of many years for just about any event that occurs around the world. Conspiracies can vary anywhere from ludicrous to factual, there has been specific verifiable evidence to suggest that the events, 9/11, JFK assassination, and Gulf of Tonkin, as told, are not completely accurate.
The annual United States budget has been steadily rising over the past decade. The projected federal budget for the 2012 fiscal year is going to be $3.7 million dollars compared to the $1.9 trillion in 2001. The 2012 budget is just a hundred million less than the 2011-year budget, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The reason for this ongoing rise in the federal budget can be acclaimed too the few financial crises that the country has faced. Beginning with September 11th attacks, to the housing bubble bursting, to the recession hit in 2007. The combination of all these major financial breakdowns, along with the hundreds of other fiscal responsibilities that the government holds has lead America into a very big budget deficit.
Are we as American citizens receiving what we expect from our government or are we demanding too much from it. It seems that over the last several years we have demanded that our government has to find ways of doing more with less. As a result of the ever-increasing demands our government is forced to face, according to Professor Paul C. Light, the American government is ill executed and the federal service is less energetic than ever before (Paul, 2008). Thus, it seems that we as Americans are not getting what we expect from our government. It is overworked; load with bureaucratic problems, forcing federal service workers to more with less. However problematic our government is, through out its history, it has created many different
Today, many Americans are firm believers that the federal government is constantly overreaching and causing citizens to feel harassed and mislead. The idea that the federal government has become overly powerful is exceedingly common throughout the United States. In many cases, the federal government does overstep by inappropriately using the power that they possess. However, there is a fine line between rebelling against the federal government for your own freedom and completely overlooking all of the same laws and rights that the rest of the American citizens are expected to abide by. The Cliven Bundy standoff is a 20-year legal dispute between the United States Bureau of Land Management and Cliven Bundy, who was illegally grazing his cattle on federally owned land in the southeastern Nevada area. Cliven Bundy’s disobedience was uncivil, and could have been handled in a much better way.
The United States federal government is composed of three institutions, the Congress, the President, and the Supreme Court. Based on the Constitution of the United States, the federal system, and the separation of power, the three branches exist and each represents the three institutions, the legislative branch is vested by the Congress, the judicial branch is vested by the Supreme Court, and the executive branch is vested by the President. The three distinct branches are respectively independent of each other, providing checks and balances, and preventing the abuse of power existed in the government. The federal government and state government divide the power of the Unites States government. In order to ensure citizens are close enough to the government, the drafters of the Constitution must not deprive the principle of freedom from its citizen and have to retain state’s autonomy. Meanwhile, each state has its own written constitution, and the state constitution contains provisions for the local government within the state.
The United States government may not always be seen as a flawless group; however, it is generally more favorable than having corporations ruling over America. In Pills and Starships, Nat and her family do not have a stable government to rely on, and they are instead at the whims of the corps’ intense regulations, pharmacontrol, and sponsored massacres. The corps uses manipulation often in order to achieve their goal of rejuvenating the Earth so they can remain. In Pills and Starships, Lydia Millet demonstrates how a corporate controlled body has enough influence within the collapsing society to dictate how Nat and her family act as citizens.
The annual budget for the Federal Government is $2.34 trillion dollars a year. Our Gross Domestic Product is an amazing $12 trillion dollars a year (Johnson 2005). This means that the $41 billion dollars is a simple 1.7 percent of the budget, and just 0.34 percent of the Gross National Product.
For some people, it is difficult to understand how the United States government is laid out, what the three branches of the government are, or how they are different from one another. Those people may not understand how each branch keeps one another in line or how their duties are divided. Each branch has its own individual set of responsibilities and duties to make sure the government is run precisely and that the rights of the citizens are respected. Learning about the three branches further beckons to discuss the separation of powers as well as implied and inherent powers. These powers may also be difficult or impossible to understand when reading about them in legal terms, or on government information. This misunderstanding can lead
The United States federal government has one of the toughest jobs in the country. They are employed to rectify issues that seem to have no unblemished, concise answer. They have no way of making every one of the “320, 477, 300” American citizens satisfied, but that is exactly what their occupation entails (United States). The federal government officials are elected by those very citizens to accurately represent the multitude of voices in Congress and act accordingly. Is that even possible?
According to The White House website, prior to the Constitution, the government of the United States was known to be practically paralyzed and ineffectual, due to being exercised by the Articles of Confederation, which established a “firm league of friendship” between the states, and vested most power in a Congress of the Confederation. This power was, however, extremely limited — the central government conducted diplomacy and made war, set weights and measures, was the final arbiter of disputes between the states, but it could not raise any funds itself, it was entirely dependent on the states themselves for the money necessary to operate (whitehouse.gov, n.d.). Decision making was not easy to accomplish. States sent
All individuals within the United States do not receive the proper benefits they desire which results on the Government not fully benefiting their needs. The American government supports all citizens, but does not grant individuals their total human rights that they fully deserve. Individuals have the right to be supported by the government especially the one with a low income,troubled families, and struggling individuals. Although the government satisfies the needs of its people to certain extent, it only occurs when the government is involved due to self-interest. The legislative process, interest groups, and congressional powers tend to stop the American individuals from being fully satisfied by the government of the United States.
The budget of the United States is a document that announces how much the government will collect in taxes and spend in revenues and how those expenditures will be allocated among various programs. The basic jist of it is how much money the government is going to spend and where it is going to spend it. There are three major areas the government spends this money: the country’s defense, Medicare, and social security. These are called uncontrollable expenditures because they involve contracts already signed, payments like social security that are guaranteed by law, and interest on the national debt that must be paid if the government is to stay in business.