Think you can scrounge up an extra $1,754 for yourself by the end of year? How about for every man, woman, and child in the United States of America?
The government will on average spend a total of $19,830 in local, state and federal government services this year on each of the more than 320,000,000 American citizens. Though costs have fallen slightly this year, healthcare continues to make up the largest share of total government spending ($4,305 per capita). Health care spending and pension spending ($3,914 per capita) combined make up more than 40 percent of our total bill while education ($2,815 per capita) and defense ($2,620 per capita) comprise another 30 percent. We also neatly tuck in a lot of our smaller expenditures in a little category titled “others”: a group of mostly local government expenditures including waste management, water supply, and fuel costs that make up about 10% of total spending.
There is just one little problem - we are a bit too high maintenance for the government's coffers to handle. The total government expenses will exceed revenues in 2015, leaving a negative balance of $1,754 for every man, woman, and child in the United States. If we start looking under our sofa cushions now, think we can cover the shortfall by New Years' Eve?