US Federal Budget Realities

Excellent excerpts from Where Does the Money Go? available at SmartChristian's blog:

Explaining the difference between deficit and debt
US government's primary source of revenue (43.4% individual income taxes, 34.8% Social Security taxes)
The six primary areas the US Federal government spends money -- 46% for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid; 8.5% for interest on debt; 19.7% on defense; 31.9% on non-defense discretionary
How the Social Security tax money is handled (hint: they're not building up an account)
The scale of the federal debt ($9 trillion, 25% held by foreign groups)

Recommended reading for every citizen.