Saturday, August 1, 2015

Federal Government Runs More Than 2,300 Subsidy and Benefit Programs - Double the Number in the 1980s

Of course it is all managed with ruthless efficiency.  Nobody watches your dollars like far-away bureaucrats, right?  From CATO:
[T]he federal government’s 2014 budget of $3.5 trillion was almost 100 times larger than the average state government budget of $36 billion, as shown in the figure. The largest state budget was California’s at $230 billion, but even that flood of spending was only one fifteenth the magnitude of the federal spending tsunami. Total state spending in 2014 was $1.8 trillion, which includes spending on general funds and nongeneral funds. 
The federal government is not just large in size, but also sprawling in scope. In addition to handling core functions such as national defense, the government runs more than 2,300 subsidy and benefit programs, which is double the number in the 1980s. ...