In the fiscal year ending on September 30, 2022, the federal government spent over six trillion dollars on providing goods, services, and payments to Americans. Much of this spending was on national defense and expenditures known as entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare (for details on these programs, see the briefs listed in the For Further Reading section). The rest of the budget, almost a trillion dollars every year, is discretionary spending, covering everything from law enforcement and road building to foreign aid and education. What do Americans get for this substantial annual expenditure?

Entitlements are government programs that provide benefits to people who require support and qualify because of their age, income, or disability. Entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare are designated as part of the mandatory spending within the federal budget. In recent years, entitlement programs have required an increasing share of federal spending. Which programs are entitlements? Who do they serve? Can anything be done to curb their costs?

If one billion dollars is equal to a school bus filled to the brim with $100 bills, the United States’ annual budget is equal to about 6,300 school buses. These funds pay for everything from keeping parks open and building new highways to unemployment benefits, the President’s salary, and the military’s tanks, planes, ships, and soldiers. At the same time, the United States has a budget deficit, meaning that more than a thousand of those school buses are filled with money that the government borrows to pay its bills. Where did this budget deficit come from? Does it matter? What needs to happen to reduce it?