The U.S. Census Bureau released its annual Federal Funds report and the 24/7WallSt web site has done a pictorial analysis of the charts in the report that is a bit more illustrative of the distribution of government funds than the charts in the Census Bureau report.  This long holiday weekend, we can all have fun finding how much per capita our state gets from the Feds. 

David Walker, the former Comptroller under the Bush administration, criticized the accounting methods of the U.S. government, which uses a cash accounting system just like a small lawn mowing company does.  As such, the government shows Social Security taxes as income and Social Security payments as expenses.  This distorts the true fiscal health of this country – a benefit for elected politicians who would prefer that their constituents not know the true picture.