2014 American Budget

I'm blown away at how many people keep spreading the myth that over half of the US budget is spent on the military. In reality, the number is at about 17%. The fact is that the majority of the US budget is spent on Social Security and Medicare.

The US budget shouldn't be a mystery, but unfortunately it seems like it is to many people. The following websites help breakdown the US budget:

1) http://federal-budget.insidegov.com/l/117/2014
2) https://www.nationalpriorities.org/analysis/2013/president-obamas-fiscal-year-2014-budget/

I think this misunderstanding happens so often because people confuse discretionary spending with mandatory entitlement programs. Yes, the military does take up a little over half of discretionary spending. However, discretionary spending is only about 1/3 of the total budget.

What Percentage of the United States Budget is for National Defense?

In 2013, the United States spent 17.7% of its budget on national defense (about 670 billion dollars) (Link). The deficit for that year was $900 billion. So even if the United States had absolutely no military or national defense, we would have still spent $230 billion of borrowed money. 

Does the US spend too much or too little on national defense?