In Which We Perform a Public Service

We take our role as disinterested and unbiased observers of public events very seriously, here at the palatial MANP Blog Command Center.*

And therefore we like to steer the teeming multitudes in our audience to useful, helpful articles like this one, which lays out in clear simple terms what the Congress in DeeCee spends our money on.

Unsurprisingly the top 3 are, Social Security/Medicare, Defense, and Anti-Poverty Programs. Its important to realize that things like foreign aid don't even register on the list.

I mention this as there are quite a few folks who think we should cut our entire foreign aid budget. While that might please some people who spend their time in an earsplitting snit because we hand over 3 billion clams a year to Israel, its unlikely to help much with the deficit. 

As the brilliant Megan McArdle put it, balancing the budget by cutting foreign aid "is like trying to pay off your credit cards by slashing your chewing gum budget." If you don't read her blog, you should start. 


*This part is a lie. In an effort to make our ideological enemies look stupid, we employ a variety of rhetorical tricks that include -- but are not limited to-- cherrypicking, straw man arguments,  red-herrings and suppressed correlatives. 

We've also been known to stretch the truth to justify a pleasing bit of invective or turn of phrase.  No notification is given when these practices are employed.