I thought this sign was cool, especially the hack on the Big O logo:

 

 

A good example of “big government” in the background…RTA hub renovated via Federal grants:

 

 

Socialism vs the American Dream.  Cue Mike Davis: Prisoners of the American Dream

 

 

 

 

 

 

Always liked this flag…

 

 

 

Some political ground truth for metro Dayton (why this was so well attended…weak support for Obama vis a vis the rest of “urban Ohio”state):

 

 

 

And now the briefing:  Big Government in the Dayton MSA.  All these are metro area numbers (Counties: Darke, Greene, Miami, Montgomery, Preble):

 

Comparing the private sector payroll (including sole proprietorships and farm operator/farm worker income) vs federal spending.  This is gross spending, not subtracting tax revenues from the MSA.

 

 

And two big pie slices.  Some “defense” things like veterans benefits and impact aid and a few other things are in the “non defense” slice, but not enough to really change this more than 1 or 2 percentage points

 

 

Opening up the non-defense category and taking a closer look at “welfare” (in this case more than TANF)

 

 

 

And revisiting the entire federal pie, but grouping medical aid as its’ own category. 

 

 

…yeah,the high cost of health care is biting the Feds as much as its biting the rest of us.

 

And, finally, a look at runaway spending in one Federal program:  Food Stamps.  This was not indexed to inflation until last year, single adults are time limited, and recipients have to be recertified at least annually, so what you are seeing is true program growth.

 

 

Longer term look, showing how food stamps relates to the business cycle, until recently at least

 

 

 

And a guess on what might account for the increased growth even though unemployment had leveled off (bars shaded in a nice blue-collar blue):

 

 

Fun stuff! (if you are a geek)

 

Sources are:

Federal Funds Report (census)

County Business Patterns (census)

Bureau of Labor Statistics.

2007 Census of Agriculture

Damn suburbanites!

WAIT.  We have a second jeffery that does pictures and graphs?

 

Welcome Jeffery II

 

Is this a Dayton thing??  :?

 

At least it's not two cincinnnatious' (or however it/they are spelled).

Goes to show that the righties and conservatives are as bereft of ideas as anyone else. Like most protests, nothing realistic is proposed as a cure.

 

Ask these people individually to forgo government spending in the form of middle class entitlements like medicare, student aid, mortgage interest deductions, preferential treatment of capital gains, etc. and you will receive EXACTLY the same response as this sort believes that you'd get from their nonexistent "welfare momma" strawman: "don't take that away, it's my God given RIGHT."

 

Spending is ALWAYS the other guy's fault, character deficiency and problem. 

 

Bitching, like all talk, is cheap.

Nice job with the graphs and pictures.

It's thomasbw! What are you doing in Daytonnati!?