U.S. federal government spending

readme.md

Description of the Data

The table represents U.S. federal government spending across various categories, comparing fiscal year (FY) 2019 with FY 2024. It highlights:

1. How much was spent in 2019 (both in original 2019 dollars and adjusted for inflation to 2024 dollars).
2. How much is projected to be spent in 2024.
3. The nominal and real increases in spending.
4. How spending compares to income growth (using a 1.11 multiplier).
5. Which categories grew faster than income growth and which ones lagged.

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Key Data Points

1. Major Spending Categories: Includes Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Defense, Veterans Affairs, Income Security, Education, Infrastructure, and more.
2. Inflation Adjustment: The FY 2019 spending is adjusted to reflect 2024 dollars for an apples-to-apples comparison.
3. Spending Growth:
   • Nominal Increase: The absolute increase in dollar terms from 2019 to 2024.
   • Real Increase: The increase after adjusting for inflation.
   • Change Beyond Income Growth: How spending compares to income growth.

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Key Observations

🔹 Total Government Spending Increased by $2.3 Trillion (52%)

• Real increase (after inflation): $1.4 Trillion (26.5%).
• Adjusted for income growth: Spending rose $829B (14%) beyond what would be expected from economic growth alone.

🔹 Fastest-Growing Categories:

• Net Interest: +134.6% ($506B increase)
• Education & Social Services: +126% ($170B increase)
• Veterans Affairs: +65% ($130B increase)

🔹 Defense Spending Lagged Behind Inflation:

• Only grew 27%, but inflation-adjusted growth was just 5.1%.
• Compared to income growth, defense spending actually shrank (-4.6%).

🔹 Social Security & Medicare Still Dominate Spending:

• Social Security: $1.461T (40% increase from 2019).
• Medicare: $0.874T (34.3% increase).

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Conclusion

This data provides a snapshot of how the federal budget evolved between 2019 and 2024. It shows which areas of spending increased rapidly (like interest payments and education) and which ones lagged (like defense). It also highlights how much government spending grew compared to inflation and overall economic growth.

budget_data.py

budget_data = [
    {
        "Spending Category": "Social Security",
        "FY2019 Outlays": "1.044T",
        "FY2019 Outlays (2024 $)": "1.253T",
        "FY2024 Outlays": "1.461T",
        "Nominal Increase": "+$417B (40.0%)",
        "Real Increase": "+$208B (16.6%)",
        "2019 Budget in 2024 $ (Adjusted for Income Increase x1.11)": "1.391T",
        "Change Beyond Income Increase": "+$70B (5.0%)"
    },
    {
        "Spending Category": "Medicare",
        "FY2019 Outlays": "0.651T",
        "FY2019 Outlays (2024 $)": "0.781T",
        "FY2024 Outlays": "0.874T",
        "Nominal Increase": "+$223B (34.3%)",
        "Real Increase": "+$93B (11.9%)",
        "2019 Budget in 2024 $ (Adjusted for Income Increase x1.11)": "0.867T",
        "Change Beyond Income Increase": "+$7B (0.8%)"
    },
    {
        "Spending Category": "Medicaid & Health",
        "FY2019 Outlays": "0.580T",
        "FY2019 Outlays (2024 $)": "0.696T",
        "FY2024 Outlays": "0.910T",
        "Nominal Increase": "+$330B (56.9%)",
        "Real Increase": "+$214B (30.7%)",
        "2019 Budget in 2024 $ (Adjusted for Income Increase x1.11)": "0.773T",
        "Change Beyond Income Increase": "+$137B (17.7%)"
    },
    {
        "Spending Category": "Defense (DoD)",
        "FY2019 Outlays": "0.690T",
        "FY2019 Outlays (2024 $)": "0.828T",
        "FY2024 Outlays": "0.876T",
        "Nominal Increase": "+$186B (27.0%)",
        "Real Increase": "+$42B (5.1%)",
        "2019 Budget in 2024 $ (Adjusted for Income Increase x1.11)": "0.918T",
        "Change Beyond Income Increase": "-$42B (-4.6%)"
    },
    {
        "Spending Category": "Veterans Affairs",
        "FY2019 Outlays": "0.200T",
        "FY2019 Outlays (2024 $)": "0.240T",
        "FY2024 Outlays": "0.330T",
        "Nominal Increase": "+$130B (65.0%)",
        "Real Increase": "+$90B (37.5%)",
        "2019 Budget in 2024 $ (Adjusted for Income Increase x1.11)": "0.266T",
        "Change Beyond Income Increase": "+$64B (24.0%)"
    },
    {
        "Spending Category": "Income Security & Others (SSI, SNAP, UI, etc.)",
        "FY2019 Outlays": "0.515T",
        "FY2019 Outlays (2024 $)": "0.618T",
        "FY2024 Outlays": "0.671T",
        "Nominal Increase": "+$156B (30.3%)",
        "Real Increase": "+$53B (8.6%)",
        "2019 Budget in 2024 $ (Adjusted for Income Increase x1.11)": "0.686T",
        "Change Beyond Income Increase": "-$15B (-2.2%)"
    },
    {
        "Spending Category": "Education, Training, Social Svcs",
        "FY2019 Outlays": "0.135T",
        "FY2019 Outlays (2024 $)": "0.162T",
        "FY2024 Outlays": "0.305T",
        "Nominal Increase": "+$170B (126.0%)",
        "Real Increase": "+$143B (88.3%)",
        "2019 Budget in 2024 $ (Adjusted for Income Increase x1.11)": "0.180T",
        "Change Beyond Income Increase": "+$125B (69.4%)"
    },
    {
        "Spending Category": "Infrastructure (Transportation)",
        "FY2019 Outlays": "0.096T",
        "FY2019 Outlays (2024 $)": "0.115T",
        "FY2024 Outlays": "0.137T",
        "Nominal Increase": "+$41B (42.7%)",
        "Real Increase": "+$22B (19.0%)",
        "2019 Budget in 2024 $ (Adjusted for Income Increase x1.11)": "0.128T",
        "Change Beyond Income Increase": "+$9B (7.3%)"
    },
    {
        "Spending Category": "Other Domestic Discretionary (Science, Env., Energy, etc.)",
        "FY2019 Outlays": "73.5B",
        "FY2019 Outlays (2024 $)": "88.2B",
        "FY2024 Outlays": "112.3B",
        "Nominal Increase": "+$38.8B (52.8%)",
        "Real Increase": "+$24.1B (27.3%)",
        "2019 Budget in 2024 $ (Adjusted for Income Increase x1.11)": "97.9B",
        "Change Beyond Income Increase": "+$14.4B (14.7%)"
    },
    {
        "Spending Category": "International Affairs",
        "FY2019 Outlays": "52.7B",
        "FY2019 Outlays (2024 $)": "63.2B",
        "FY2024 Outlays": "72.0B",
        "Nominal Increase": "+$19.3B (36.6%)",
        "Real Increase": "+$8.8B (13.9%)",
        "2019 Budget in 2024 $ (Adjusted for Income Increase x1.11)": "70.15B",
        "Change Beyond Income Increase": "+$1.85B (2.6%)"
    },
    {
        "Spending Category": "Net Interest",
        "FY2019 Outlays": "0.376T",
        "FY2019 Outlays (2024 $)": "0.451T",
        "FY2024 Outlays": "0.882T",
        "Nominal Increase": "+$506B (134.6%)",
        "Real Increase": "+$431B (95.6%)",
        "2019 Budget in 2024 $ (Adjusted for Income Increase x1.11)": "0.501T",
        "Change Beyond Income Increase": "+$381B (76.0%)"
    },
    {
        "Spending Category": "Total Outlays",
        "FY2019 Outlays": "4.447T",
        "FY2019 Outlays (2024 $)": "5.336T",
        "FY2024 Outlays": "6.752T",
        "Nominal Increase": "+$2.305T (51.8%)",
        "Real Increase": "+$1.416T (26.5%)",
        "2019 Budget in 2024 $ (Adjusted for Income Increase x1.11)": "5.923T",
        "Change Beyond Income Increase": "+$0.829T (14.0%)"
    }
]