xkcd Money Chart

http://xkcd.com/980

I am tempted to print this on my 2' wide printer and put it on the wall. This is the most comprehensive chart of where money in the US is/goes that I have ever seen, and I just finished extensive research on this subject for a paper. I wish this had been posted a week ago.

Ok, so there are people starving in the US, while our government is spending $11 billion on military aid, and another $11 billion on foreign humanitarian aid (not certain if that is yearly, or total, but yearly makes more sense). Total US population (in 2009 according to Google) is 307 million. That is equal to $71 per person. If you discount the 50% of the population that is totally above the poverty line, and does not need the money, that is $142 per person. Note that this is not money that we are paying for our own defense. Also note that in the past this money has been used explicitly against us (by Iran and Iraq, for instance).

Corporate tax deductions are at $125 billion, which is equal to $407 per person.

Cost of war in Afghanistan is $321 billion, at $1,045 per person.

Iraq war was $784 billion, at $2,553 per person.

Stimulus spending was $206 billion in 2008 and $748 billion in 2009, totaling at $954 billion and $3,107 per person.

Recent bailouts totaled around $393 billion, $1,280 per person.

US annual charitable giving: $295 billion, at $960 per person.

And a bunch of small stuff that probably totals at several more trillion (not willing to take the hours to count it all).

So, the totals of the stuff that I provided values for is $2,872 billion. That comes out to $9,355 per person. If that money was distributed only to those that actually need it (the lower 50%), it would be $18,710 per person. xkcd.com assumes around $22,000 as the poverty level (on a per household basis). In a household of 2 people, $18,710 per person is enough money to survive on for a year, without even working a job. Many of the above are yearly figures, meaning that the government could dramatically improve the standard of living of the bottom 50% by giving them money, instead of wasting it on useless projects (admittedly, some of the money is spent on useful stuff, for instance, stimulus includes some education grants).

Note that the lower 50% includes households that earn less than $55,000 a year. Those making more than $40,000 a year and only include 2 people could be excluded based on research showing that $20,000 a year per person is the optimum income for happiness. This would further increase the per person payout of the nearly $3 trillion counted above.

Also, a wage cap and a profit cap for businesses would extremely dramatically redistribute wealth. A $500 million profit cap (I support something even more aggressive) would save $15.5 billion from Walmart (I'll be rounding down to the nearest $.5 billion), $29.5 billion from ExxonMobil, $5.5 billion from PepsiCo, $11 billion from Coca-Cola, $2 billion from VISA, $1 billion from MasterCard, $11 billion from GE, $12 billion from Berkshire Hathaway, $5.5 billion from GM, $6 billion from Ford, $19 billion from AT&T, $1.5 billion from Bank of America, $16.5 billion from JP Morgan Chase, $2 billion from Verizon, $10 billion from Citigroup, $51.5 billion from HP, $13.5 billion from Apple, $18 billion from MS, and $8 billion from Google. That totals to $239 billion, which is another $1,557 per person, and this time entirely on a yearly basis (and automatically adjusted for inflation even). And, this only includes a very small number of businesses that make over $500 million a year. If this money was distributed among the lower 50%, it would be $3,114 per year per person, enough to pull quite a few people out of the poverty level.

I don't want to do the work for finding the benefits of the wage cap, but I am certain they are at least as dramatic as the profit cap.

In short, if our government would quit squandering money, and if it would enforce a wage and profit cap, everyone one in the entire US could be living above the poverty level. (Hmm, according to the dollar section of the xkcd.com chart, the average CEO in the US makes $5,420 per hour. I could work for a single day every year at those wages, and be just barely at the poverty level. I take this to mean that each day of work for a typical CEO is robbing one person of an entire year's salary. Of course, this is presuming an 8 hour work day.)

If, in addition to this, taxes for the top 10% of wage earners was increased by even a little bit (ie, a few percent), it would generate enough more money to put the entire US population in the middle class. Note that this does not include large businesses, which would generate far more than that with a similar tax increase.

Anyhow, I like this chart. It gives very complete information (and would have made a nice reference for my paper, if it had come a week earlier).

Lord Rybec