Why Captain Capitalism Was Made

because blogger sucks and is uploading only 1 in 10 charts I try to upload, this is merely a drafted post. wanted to get at least SOME of the charts up here. Charts are at the bottom;


Every super hero has an origin.

Batman lost his folks to the Joker and went on a vendetta against crime. Your friendly neighborhood Spiderman was bit by a spider and opted to become altruistic with his newfound powers. Superman was an orphan from a planet that blew up which somehow would incentive him to defend truth, justice and the American way.

And so too does Captain Capitalism have his origins.

However, the origins are not as exciting as much as they are a pet peeve. Tired of people being misinformed about politics, government, society, etc., (not to mention the trillions of dollars that were on the line) I thought that economics would be a great tool to cut through the political BS and show some people what the truth of the matter was.

And while it has evolved a bit since then the mission remains the same; to educate people about the truth of the matter via economics.

Alas, it seems I shan't get a break for the Captain Capitalism signal has the sky lit up.

So here's the latest in Minnesota. turns out we are going to have a $1 billion surplus on the state budget this upcoming year.

Naturally this gets leftists and rightists alike are all abuzz about what to do with the money. And without even having to think about it, you can already guess the bumper sticker sound bytes being exchanged;

"we spend too much on education."

"We need more money for health care, schools and jobs."

"Minnesota is one of the highest taxed states in the US"

"That money should go back to the tax payer."

"we dont' spend enough money on roads."

Alright, all you idiots shut up.

And the reason I want all the idiots to shut up is because I haven't heard one person quote or give any kind of indication they've actually LOOKED AT THE BUDGET!

There's a novel idea, looking at the budget.

ie-studying something before you open your mouth.

Sadly this is how all of politics and economics is discussed by your average TV-watching, college student, suburbanite crusader housewife type people out there.

So, as a benefit to all of you out there that wish to INTELLIGENTLY comment on the budget, may I suggest looking at the following charts before you do?

Short version, we spend enough on education and health care. So the left may take their broken record off the record player and quit playing that damn song "we don't spend enough on eduation and health care."


Here's a pretty colored picture with all the items and their respective percentages.


Also if you look at where the money has gone for the budget over time, you noticed that there really hasn't been that much of a change. The vast majority of it going to education and health care and very little of it going to things everybody uses like roads, police and general government.



Another interesting measure is different budget items as a percent of GROSS STATE PRODUCT. ie-what percent of your salary goes to these wonderful programs.