TRENDS IN NATIONAL SPENDING PRIORITIES

Facing soaring deficits and disagreements over the mix of taxes and spending in the budget, it is valuable to consider what the American people think governmental spending priorities should be and how their preferences have changed over the last four decades.

Since 1973 the General Social Surveys conducted by the University of Chicago have asked people whether government spending in various areas from health to foreign aid is too much, too little, or about right.

The General Social Survey is a project of the independent research organization NORC at the University of Chicago with principal funding from the National Science Foundation.

Here are the latest top funding priorities of the American people:

1.     Improving the nation's education system
2.     Halting the rising crime rate
3.     Improving and Protecting the Nation's Health
4.     Improving and Protecting the Environment
5.     Dealing with Drug Addiction
6.     Solving the Problems of the Big Cities
7.     Improving the Condition of Blacks
8.     The Military, Armaments, and Defense/National Defense
9.     Space Exploration Program/NASA
10.     Welfare
11.     Foreign Aid/Assistance to Other Countries

Looking at how military spending and NASA are near the bottom while programs of social uplift generally dominate the higher priorities, one can see that the politicians in Washington are obviously not listening to the American people. 

With 57% of every federal discretionary dollar now going to the Pentagon it is more obvious than ever that the corporate-criminal-military-industrial-complex has completely circumvented the will of the public.

These finding should once again give the people confidence that their concerns for real social progress and peace are indeed shared by the vast majority of the nation.  Our task now is to effectively organize and fight for our collective vision of the nation.