Thanks to Wikicommons.

We at US Democrazy are pretty sure that there is nothing you, our readers, find more interesting than accounting.  That’s why we are excited to present (Sound the trumpets!):  President Obama’s Federal budget proposal for the 2011 Fiscal Year! (Applause!)

Now in case you missed the proposed budgets release on February 1 here are some quick numbers from the proposal (the full collection of tables is here as a .pdf):

• The Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the value of all goods and services produced in the US – $15,299 Billion

• Expected federal income for 2011 – $2,567 Billion (16.8% of the GDP)

Of which: $1,121 Billion comes from individual’s (ie. your) income taxes

• Expected federal expenditures for 2011 – $3,834 Billion (25.1% of the GDP)

Of which: $548.9 Billion goes towards the Department of Defense
$730 Billion goes towards Social Security

• The difference (e.g. deficit) – $1,267 Billion (8.3% of the GDP)

From our friends at the Daily Beast comes a good summary of some interesting parts (yes, such a thing exists) of the budget.

These are some pretty BIG numbers and like any other piece of BIG news, there is plenty to talk about.

Republicans have attacked the proposed budget as not being fiscally responsible due to the size of the deficit.

If that’s not bad enough for Obama, some Democrats have also taken a stance against the budget.

It looks like, as Derek Thompson of the Atlantic, writes in a terrific article that,

The Obama administration is stuck between a rock and a hard place. The rock is an immovable Congress and the hard place is a trillion dollar deficit that is as terrifying to contemplate as it is impossible to change.

Now as Republicans take up arms against the budget, some have questioned their fiscal stance in the past.

Steve Chapman at Reason Magazine notes

it’s odd to hear complaints about excessive spending from the people who brought us the bloated budgets of the Bush years.

Not every Republican is balking at major cuts.

Representative Paul Ryan, a Republican, had the audacity to propose his own budget.

This proposal does manage to bring the US budget deficit under control.  How does he manage it?

Ezra Klein, for the Washington Post, points out Ryan’s budget is

an object lesson in why so few politicians are willing to answer the question “but how will you save all that money?”

…To move us to surpluses, Ryan’s budget proposes reforms that are nothing short of violent.

We at US Democrazy have no idea if Ryan’s proposal is a good one.  It does provide some good food for thought, however.

With that in mind and to help us better understand Obama’s proposal we’re asking you to post your thoughts on America’s potential budget.

With all of our readers out there must be no shortage of good ideas.