There are individuals, programs, departments of government, government employees, cities, states, projects, government contractors, international aid programs, nations and about every other thing that you can name that benefit from the taxpayers money who don't deserve, earn, or require what they receive. The amount of waste in government spending is incredulous. Washington has become quite the party. Let the good times roll even if it means pushing up the national debt even further. Most would agree on the need for basic programs and services provided at a reasonable cost and size. Fewer would agree on the definition of "reasonable" and even less on how they are paid for.
Beyond the basics, there is spending for the sake of spending or give-aways. With such a dispensing mechanism, there is bound to be more corruption than usual and a lot of embedded well-wishers. Someone has said that it's like everyone's favorite ATM machine despite the long lines and lack of moral fiber. The rich and poor alike line up for the taxpayer money that comes with or without strings attached. Some of it is handed out to keep the works-so-well capitalist system going and tightly managed, or to fund pet programs and projects, or as inducements and disincentives for various foreign and domestic agendas and policies. The rest is unaccounted for or lost in the shuffle due to a lack of concern.
So most often, politics is about what voracious, dollar consuming monster gets fed the most of the taxpayer and borrowed money. But also it's about something as simple as a school lunches. One side wants the child to eat no matter what and the other side wants to go as far as throwing their lunch in the trash just to make a point. Oddly enough, you could speculate that one side of the American divide believes in personal responsibility, consequences and exclusion while the other sees communal responsibility, no consequences and inclusion. Granted, this is quite simplistic and certainly doesn't cover the complexity involved, but it is a helpful guide that often predicts many actions and beliefs.
Money, money, money. Who get's the money? Despite the outrageous amount spent on the military, the other major part is entitlements that are linked to every citizen in some way. Seen as the third rail of politics, little is being done to assure its continued funding after the main program of Social Security was ruined. Besides defense contractors and the politicians that hold stock in them, there are many more, as Allan Simpson said, tits that are sucked on, each hoping to get more money to come their way. Even though control and dependence is the price of earned benefits, most are comforted by monthly government checks and others by payments from whatever program or policy that pads the bottom line.
One might wonder how well capitalism works when there are no social programs and laws that serve as safety nets. Granted, many of these are more like safety couches but some actually save the taxpayer from future high costs and consequences. But for just practical purposes, the government has to spend taxpayer money; this is one of the truest facts of life. I still would like to think that it is more thrift than spendthrift. I would like to think that no patriot would commit fraud, gouge the government, cheat on their taxes or take goods or services or handouts that they didn't need. I would like to think that any good citizen wouldn't lobby for their own personal gain, especially if it was to the detriment of others. I would like to think ....but I know better.
Democrats and Republicans fight over spending budgets but never to the extent that their special interests, like Wall Street, will be harmed. This business as usual approach has taken on the extreme views in both parties as the deficit continues to increase. In the past, the economy outgrew the extravagance, waste and losses, some due to war and natural disaster. As in most other situations, when the revenue isn't there, people start to point fingers and propose cuts in spending for things they didn't want or approve of in the first place.
I assume (remembering that you and me ass thing) that government was meant to be the adults in the room who together made the best decisions possible for all concerned. But both state and federal politicians can act as childish as their constituents. Without debating the merits, there is an ever-widening gap as to how the taxpayer money should be spent. This ideological crisis further exposes the lack of compromise that has been the main feature of Washington politics over the last few years. Some boasting about voting against what they in the past supported.
"He who controls the spice (money), controls the universe." ___Frank Herbert, Dune. Some say the national religion of America is money. But it appears more likely that it's the control of money. Then there's that love of money being the root of all evil. Noam Chomsky says that the general population doesn't know what's happening and it doesn't know that it doesn't know. Are we to be left with an emotional religious instinct as to what is true and whom we can trust? Is our instinct more believable than common facts? I really don't know. Fortunately however, I believe there is never any overspending in the department from which I get my government check.
BONUS PIC
