Originally Posted by Andy

You have to be careful about that article and stats on that kind of stuff. It's all statistics and if you've ever taken a class in stats, the teacher likely stated on day one that figures don't lie but liars can figure.
Depending on how you slice and dice federal spending, the various studies will either count or not count things like military bases, national parks, social security payments, and other items where there's federal spending but isn't the same as providing food stamps, welfare, Medicaid, etc.

Basically, tell me what you want to prove and I'll make the numbers 'work out' by counting/not counting items that aren't necessarily pertinent to the discussion.

Should we count the $3.5 Billion federal grant to California for their [s]SFO-LA[/] Merced-Bakersfield HSR MSR Low Speed Rail? Should we count payments made to states to build/maintain roads and airports?
Side note: I will be curious to see what it costs CA taxpayers annually to subsidize the operation of the rail to nowhere - I will not be surprised to see the entire project mothballed within a few years of completion.

If you just count everything, it distorts the numbers. If you totally cherry pick what you include, it distorts the numbers.