Never Enough No Matter How Much It Is

A common narrative of the Left is that we do not spend enough on social spending in the United States.

We should spend more on education, healthcare, welfare, food programs and the homeless.

At the same time, it is stated we spend too much on defense.

Consider the recent statement of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Link: https://x.com/MarcoFoster_/status/2045880876081262625

We are hearing this refrain even more now as President Trump attempts to silence Iran's "Death to America" chants and the regime's threat to the safety and security of the world.

Here is Elizabeth Warren complaining about the cost of military spending and claims that Trump will be gutting health care, housing, climate and education programs to do it.

Leftists in California are working to put an issue on the November ballot in California to impose a "one-time" wealth tax on billionaires that they say will raise $100 billion to fund Medicaid, K-12 education and food programs.

However, as I noted in a previous post, 50% of the $2 trillion of billionaire wealth targeted by the proposal has already left the state. Theses individuals will also no longer pay income, sales and use and property taxes in the state going forward.

Consider as well the fact that in the last decade, while California's population grew less than 1%, the number of state employees grew by 25% and total state spending increased by 48% AFTER INFLATION!

What will California do next when the wealth tax money runs out and those high earners are now in Florida and Texas?

Quite simply, there is never enough spending to satisfy Liberals.

How much is the United States spending on social programs compared to defense?

At the federal level, 61% of all spending is on Social Programs.

12% is spent on Defense. 

In fact, interest on the federal debt (14%) now exceeds the money spent on defense.

75% of all federal spending is now directed to social programs and interest on the federal debt.

Elizabeth Warren also claims that military spending is the highest in history.

That is true in nominal terms.

Of course, that could be said about any item in the federal budget.

The true measure is how much is being spent as a % of how much the nation's economy is producing (GDP).

The fact is that spending on Defense as a % of GDP is essentially at the lowest level it has ever been.

It is only 1/3 of what it was in the 1960's.

On the other hand, spending on Social Programs has almost tripled as a % of GDP over the same period.

Credit: https://x.com/psitako/status/2046513083384729678

If we include state and local government spending along with federal spending, the tax dollars used to support education and social programs becomes even more pronounced compared to defense spending.

Only 8% of government spending is being used for military purposes.

Almost 2/3 is being spent on social programs or education.

Source: https://x.com/LeighWolf/status/2046041550765842937/photo/1

In total, $7 trillion will be spent this year on various social welfare and education programs in the United States.

Let's put that in context.

That is more than the GDP of every country in the world except the United States and China.

Top 15 Countries By Gross Domestic Product, 2026
Source: https://www.worldometers.info/gdp/gdp-by-country/

It is $1.5 trillion more than the entire German economy.

It is almost $3 trillion more than the entire economy of India which has a population of 1.5 billion people.

On a per capita basis, the United States spends almost 7 times more on education and social programs as India's entire economy produces.

 

The United States needs to spend more on social programs?

$39 trillion of federal debt (and growing) with annual debt service costs of well over $1 trillion annually (and growing) suggests that we are already spending well more than we can afford and we have been doing it for a long, long time.

We should cut defense spending to fund more social programs?

Consider the fact that defense spending could be cut to ZERO and the United States would still have a $1 trillion federal spending deficit.

The lesson to remember here is that for the Left it is never enough.

And it will never be enough no matter how much it is.