DeaneBarker.net

Here are the results of a poll by The Economist that asked Americans where the government should cut spending.  The exact question was:

If government spending is reduced in order to balance the budget, which of the following government programs should receive lower federal funding than they currently do?

Respondents could check more than one.  (I assume they had to pick at least one.)

The results?  The only option with more than 29% was “Foreign Aid,” which is such a small part of the budget that it’s barely even worth bothering with.

The biggest line items in the budget are Social Security and Medicare.  They both got 7%, so only one person in every fourteen is prepared to cut those.  Surprising, 22% were willing to cut National Defense, which is far higher than I thought, but still less than one person in four.

In the end, everyone says we need “smaller government,” but this poll proves as a country, we don’t really mean it.  There are some really hard choices we have to make as a society.  I’ve always suspected we were incapable of actually making those choices, and this poll seems to confirm that.