The 2011 Budget

For numbers geeks like me, today's interactive diagram in the New York Times of President Obama's proposed 2011 budget is just about the equivalent of heaven. Here are, in rough but much more accurate numbers, a breakdown of 10 of the largest parts of the $3.69 trillion federal budget, along with a remainder category:

• Defense spending: $740 billion
• Social Security: $740 billion
• Medicare: $580 billion
• Income Security: $430 billion, of which about 80% is various "welfare" programs and 20% consists of various working- and middle-class tax credits
• Medicaid: $260 billion
• Interest (debt service): $250 billion
• Veteran benefits: $130 billion
• Federal employee retirement and disability: $125 billion (split roughly 60/40 between civilian and military)
• Highway funding: $45 billion
• Student financial assistance: $40 billion
• Everything else: $350 billion

Here's an exercise for all of you Republicans out there. The projected deficit for 2011 is $1.3 trillion. Balance the budget without raising taxes or cutting anything from defense spending, Social Security, Medicare, or debt service. Give it a try, and let me know your solution.