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THE BIG PICTURE

December 21, 2007

Part of the Iowa Caucus landscape is yard signs with this picture:

It is an abbreviated version of this:

The signs are from "Iowans for Sensible Priorities," a group that wants to cut defense spending and spend it on other things. The chart shows Pentagon spending as red in the "discretionary spending" pie.

Talking only about "discretionary" spending leaves something out. So, courtesy of Marginal Revolution, here is the big picture:

It looks a little bit different if you include the three largest domestic spending programs, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and interest on the federal debt. But they are on auto-pilot, so we're not supposed to talk about them in polite company.

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