Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi.Epsum factorial non deposit quid pro quo hic escorol. Olypian quarrels et gorilla congolium sic ad nauseum. Souvlaki ignitus carborundum e pluribus unum. Defacto lingo est igpay atinlay. Marquee selectus non provisio incongruous feline nolo contendre. Gratuitous octopus niacin, sodium glutimate. Quote.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi.Epsum factorial non deposit quid pro quo hic escorol. Olypian quarrels et gorilla congolium sic ad nauseum. Souvlaki ignitus carborundum e pluribus unum. Defacto lingo est igpay atinlay. Marquee selectus non provisio incongruous feline nolo contendre. Gratuitous octopus niacin, sodium glutimate. Quote.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi.Epsum factorial non deposit quid pro quo hic escorol. Olypian quarrels et gorilla congolium sic ad nauseum. Souvlaki ignitus carborundum e pluribus unum. Defacto lingo est igpay atinlay. Marquee selectus non provisio incongruous feline nolo contendre. Gratuitous octopus niacin, sodium glutimate. Quote.


Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi.Epsum factorial non deposit quid pro quo hic escorol. Olypian quarrels et gorilla congolium sic ad nauseum. Souvlaki ignitus carborundum e pluribus unum. Defacto lingo est igpay atinlay. Marquee selectus non provisio incongruous feline nolo contendre. Gratuitous octopus niacin, sodium glutimate. Quote.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi.Epsum factorial non deposit quid pro quo hic escorol. Olypian quarrels et gorilla congolium sic ad nauseum. Souvlaki ignitus carborundum e pluribus unum. Defacto lingo est igpay atinlay. Marquee selectus non provisio incongruous feline nolo contendre. Gratuitous octopus niacin, sodium glutimate. Quote.

 Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum.

Arizona’s new immigration law is just over a week old, yet it continues to polarize public opinion as advocates and critics seek to bolster support through marches, boycotts, and using mainstream media as a platform for their positions.

A report on NPR finds that San Francisco, St. Paul, and Denver are prohibiting their employees from travelling to Arizona on business, while other cities including Los Angeles, San Diego, Washington and Austin are considering similar measures.

The Arizona Republic reports that The Arizona Hotel and Lodging Association has seen the early impact of the law’s passage in dollars and cents. Nearly two dozen meetings that were to have been held in the state have been cancelled, translating into a vacancy of 15,000 room nights. Read more from The Arizona Republic by clicking here.

This could also be bad business for Arizona’s capital city as opponents of the law are threatening to keep the next Republican National Convention and Major League Baseball's 2011 All-Star Game out of Phoenix.

In February, the Republican National Committee announced that it was a finalist for the 2010 Republican National Convention, according to the Phoenix Business Journal . The convention - which is expected to take place in late August or around Labor Day of 2010 – would mean a big business opportunity for Phoenix in a time of a severe economic downfall.

Yet overall, most people seem to favor the law. A new poll  from the Gallup organization shows that, of Americans who are familiar with the immigration law, just over half, or 51%, favor the law while 39% oppose it. The poll was conducted in the days following Governor Brewer’s signing it into law. For more results from the poll, click here.

Four lawsuits were filed last week against Arizona’s new anti-immigration bill, including two from police officers acting on their own behalf, and another by the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders. The suits seek an injunction to stop implementation of the law and also challenge its constitutionality, arguing that it is the federal government’s responsibility to regulate immigration. The suits also allege that the new law will lead to racial profiling. Read more from the Arizona Daily Star and the Los Angeles Times.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund are strongly opposed to the Arizona bill and have indicated that they will also file legal challenges in the days ahead. The ACLU’s motto in the fight is “What Happens in Arizona Stops in Arizona.” The San Francisco City Attorney has called for a boycott against Arizona, the first of what’s expected to be multiple calls for punitive action against the state.

The measure is known as SB 1070 and makes it a state crime for migrants to be in the country without legal documentation. It also allows police to stop anyone on “reasonable suspicion”– click here to read the language of SB 1070. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer says that the citizens of Arizona are fed up and afraid, and that frustration and anger resulted in this proposal.

Other border states such as California and Texas have spent the last few decades cracking down on the issue, enforcing hundreds of local immigration laws. According to the Wall Street Journal, the local immigration laws in California and Texas have been enacted with a focus on restricting access to everything from jobs to drivers' licenses by way of three-tier fencing, motion-detection devices, and remote control cameras. As a result, Arizona became the main avenue for migrants to illegal entry into the U.S.

Yet comprehensive immigration reform is possible only when opposing sides are willing to come together. A study published December 2008 by The Communications Institute (AnalysisOnline is its research arm) and the University of Arizona’s Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy on the role of immigrants in the economy shows that illegal immigrants living in Texas – another border state with Mexico - contributed over $17 billion dollars to the state’s economy in 2006. The study is titled “Arizona’s Economy and the Legal Arizona Worker’s Act” and authored by Judith Gans, Program Manager for Immigration Policy at the Center. Gans concludes that balancing income from consumption taxes with the cost of social services provided to illegal immigrants results in net fiscal benefits at the federal level, and disproportionate fiscal costs at the state and local levels. The research was undertaken prior to the dramatic economic downturn in the U.S. economy.

Click here to read a discussion of whether consensus on immigration reform can be achieved, part of an immigration forum sponsored by The Communications Institute.

Hiroshi Motomura, Professor of Law at UCLA’s School of Law and author of “Americans in Waiting: The Lost Story of Immigration and Citizenship in the United States,” states in a recent opinion piece featured by the New York Times, “This standard [reasonable suspicion] gives institutional cover for selective immigration enforcement through racial and ethnic profiling, and for this reason it will lead to constitutional violations if the statute goes into effect… Arizona is attempting to enact its own immigration regime and allow selective enforcement.” Click here to read more.

Steven Camarota, Director of Research at the Center for Immigration Studies, a nonprofit research organization based in Washington D.C., defends the new measure, arguing that it was designed to mirror federal regulation. “The law is specifically designed to avoid the legal pitfall of ‘pre-emption,’ which means a state can’t enact laws that conflict with federal statutes. By simply making what is a federal violation also a state violation, the Arizona law avoids this problem.” Click here to read more of Mr. Camarota’s opinions in a piece in the N.Y. Times.

In her first interview since signing the bill into law on April 30, Governor Jan Brewer went “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren” to talk about the measure and why it vital to the state of Arizona. She says it is her responsibility as Governor to protect the citizens of Arizona from the devastating consequences of illegal immigration, including kidnappings, automobile accidents, extortion, and drug trafficking. Since taking office in January, Gov. Brewer has written numerous letters to the Obama Administration regarding the matter and says she never received a response. The result? Senate Bill 1070. “We have no other choice,” she says.

Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), was also interviewed by Van Susteren and said that the bill is in violation of the fourth amendment – which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures and requires search and arrest warrants supported by probable cause - click here to view the Bill of Rights. Sinema says she is prepared for battle and ready to sue on constitutional grounds.

There seems to be a consensus that illegal immigration is a critical issue that must be addressed, though no consensus on how to accomplish that goal. Even President Obama said he thinks it’s unlikely that immigration reform will be tackled this year because of the mid-term elections this fall and another big issue, climate change, that‘s on Congress’ agenda. Read more of the President’s comments in the Washington Post.

Yet unless SB 1070 is enjoined by the federal courts, it is expected to take effect in 90 days at the end of July or early August. In judging whether or not Arizona’s immigration enforcement law adheres to the Constitution, there is no doubt that Arizona must ensure that basic civil rights are protected. Ultimately, the courts will decide the issue. Public involvement is now driving the debate after tens of thousands of protestors converged in cities across the nation last weekend to march for immigration reform and denounce Arizona’s new anti-immigration law. According to the Los Angeles Times,  the city, which is home to more than 3 million foreign-born inhabitants, held the largest May Day rally in the country with an estimated 40,000 to 60,000 people.

To learn more about immigration issues, click here.

In the face of news that seems unrelentingly dire, some progress was reported in the fight against the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico as British Petroleum (BP) crews worked to place a 4-story, 100-ton containment dome to capture the leaking oil and pump it to the surface. The Los Angeles Times reports that the container could be operating by Sunday.

The technology has been used a few times in shallow waters, but never at such extreme depths — 5,000 feet down, where the water pressure is enough to crush a submarine. The dome is one of three that will be lowered 5000 feet to the seabed to seal off one of the two remaining leaks. 5,000 barrels of oil are leaking from the Deepwater Horizon rig each day, or more than 200,000 gallons.

The New York Times has an illustration of how the dome will work and reports that BP hope to have the dome operating by Monday, capturing about 85 percent of the oil spilling into the sea.

The company’s crews are working in tandem with the Coast Guard on a variety of methods to battle the oil, both on and below the surface of the water. BP is planning to drill a relief well in 5000 feet of water to intercept the existing well around 13,000 feet below the seabed and permanently seal it. The new drill site is about half a mile on the seabed from the leaking well, and drilling is estimated to take some three months.

There has been some slight progress as British Petroleum crews try to stem the flood of oil coming from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana. According to the New York Times, weather has played a role as calmer winds have allowed crews to increase their efforts to stop the oil slicks now threatening the coastlines of four southeastern states.

The New Orleans Times Picayune has a map detailing possible areas of the spill’s landfall.The paper also features daily updates and resources here. Click here for an interactive map from the New York Times.

BP also provides daily updated response maps on their website as does Transocean.

The spill began on April 20th when an explosion caused by a blowout - a failure in pressure control systems. That resulted in a deadly fire, killing eleven of the rig’s 126-member crew and destroying the rig. There are three companies involved which may bear some liability for the accident. Transocean is the rig’s owner and operator, and is identified on its website as the world’s largest offshore drilling contractor. Click here for Transocean’s Deepwater Horizon Response Site and the companion Facebook page.

The rig was leased to British Petroleum and the drilling equipment provided by Halliburton and was also responsible for the cementing – a method of sealing a newly-drilled well to control pressure from the oil and gas below it.

BP’s efforts to cope with the oil spill have encountered criticism and problems on several fronts. Attempts to install a shutoff valve at the site of one of the leaks were thwarted by high winds and choppy seas, which also damaged miles of floating booms laid out in coastal waters to protect sections of vulnerable shoreline from Louisiana to northwestern Florida. BP faces potentially millions of dollars in costs relate to the spill, dwarfing Exxon Mobil’s tab from the Valdez spill.

The spill comes five years after Hurricane Katrina decimated New Orleans and many accused the federal government of doing too little, too late. Having learned from that debacle, President Obama visited Louisiana soon after the explosion and promised to devote all necessary resources to battle the spill’s impact on sensitive offshore wildlife refuges as well as the region’s sensitive fishing grounds.

A consortium of environmental groups and other organizations has appealed to the Interior Department asking for reconsideration of the preliminary approval of expanded offshore oil and gas exploration in the Arctic. It may also affect President Obama’s commitment to expand drilling off the Atlantic coast, an effort he supports in order to reduce dependence on imported oil. In his plan announced last month, the first offshore leases would be issued off the Virginia coast in 2012 at the earliest.

On the nation’s other coast, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger withdrew his support to expand offshore drilling along the Santa Barbara coast, citing concerns stemming from the BP spill. The Governor had previously announced his support for drilling, arguing that its’ projected $100 million in new revenue each year would help balance California’s nearly $20 billion budget deficit. Read more here from the Sacramento Bee.

California is no stranger to oil spills and ecological disaster. In 1969 a Union Oil rig had a blowout six miles off the coast of Santa Barbara and over 3 million barrels of crude oil spilled into the bay and polluted the coastline, killing more than 10,000 birds and becoming a “no drilling” rallying cry for environmentalists in the state. You can read more by clicking here for an overview by the Santa Barbara County Planning and Development Energy Division.

The Gulf spill also raises comparisons with the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989 in which the ship struck a reef and ultimately released 11 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound in Alaska. Click here for the EPA’s Emergency Management overview on what had been the country’s worst oil spill.

As the government and the public balance competing priorities in the weeks and months ahead, there is a need to thoughtfully assess new challenges and threats with decisions based upon fact, not emotion. In a democratic society, public understanding of risk issues will impact how elected officials deal with the challenges facing the country.

For additional AnalysisOnline resources on understanding risk, click here.

New drilling technologies pioneered in America are generating optimism about using liquified natural gas (LNG) as an alternative to mining coal, according to The Economist. These technologies have unlocked precious areas of gas-bearing shale in America, and with new improvements in techniques, production costs of shale-gas have halved, making it cheaper and more cost effective even than some conventional sources. 

Click here for a primer from the U.S. Department of Energy about LNG, including what it is and how it's produced. Click here to view a map from the Federal Regulatory Energy Commission with the locations of U.S.-based LNG terminals.  For additional expert resources on LNG compiled by AO, click here.

According to the Energy Information Adminstration, fossil fuels remain the largest source of energy. Click here to see U.S. Energy Consumption by Energy Source, 2003 - 2007.  Coal, America’s leading energy provider and a major source of CO2 emissions, has surfaced as a primary contributor to global warming. With America’s energy needs on the rise, the government is working to find alternative sources of energy, paying special attention to clean-air technology.

But increasing supply will not solve the nation's energy problems (see article). New technologies, now in research or development stages, continue to drive the hope for less reliance on foreign energy sources. Now, new drilling technologies have taken unconventional gas to a new level, allowing gas to be extracted from more types of rock thus producing a form of liquefied natural gas. This innovation of “safer-looking” gas is claimed by experts to be more abundant, cost-effective, and widespread than other more harmful fossil-fuels, like coal.

The Barnett Shale near Fort Worth, Texas provides about 7% of gas supplies for the U.S., and where Devon Energy implemented two oilfield techniques, fracing and horizontal drilling, which optimized the extraction of natural gas from fields deep under the natural water table.  Click here for a map from the Energy Information Administration of continental U.S. fields of natural gas, including the Barnett Shale and the Marcellus Shale play in the Appalachian Basin.

According to the recent article in The Economist, there are two factors that could reverse the current enthusiasm for liquefied natural gas usage. First, there is uncertainty about the fruitfulness of international exploration outside North America. Second, there is concern that the drilling could potentially poison water and despoil landscapes. However, gasifying power generation in America could quickly displace coal, despite the political lobbyists in Washington, because it could be done cheaply and quickly.

To put liquefied natural gas into perspective, Randy Eresman, President and CEO of Encana, a Canadian gas company, states “by converting North America’s fleet of 18-wheeled trucks to natural gas, America could halve its imports of Middle Eastern oil.” It could also take a more indirect form, fueling cars with electricity from gas.

New supplies of gas have kindled the debate over the usage of fossil fuels and should be taken seriously. The history of fossil-fuel extraction shows that these processes may cause harm. Yet the scientific breakthrough should serve to inspire and facilitate further innovations for clean air technology and reduction of CO2 emissions.

Dr. Henry Lee of Harvard University, Director of the Environment and Natural Resources Program, explains in his AO Primer why the U.S. will never attain energy independence. Domestic natural gas supplies won’t fill demand over the next 30 to 40 years, he says, but investing in natural gas supplies in other, frequently unstable, countries also poses a risk. Another AO Primer, which features Dr. Joseph Kalt, also of Harvard University, agrees that energy independence is not achievable. Alternatives to fossil fuels are not cost-effective, and the U.S. already imports 30 percent of its total energy supplies and more than half of its oil.

For more resources on energy, click here.

The Gallup Job Creation Index reveals that the federal government is hiring more workers than the private sector. Local and state government continue to struggle financially while the federal government continues to spend more primarily through increasing of the Federal Debt. The report illustrates the big increases in Federal spending are resulting in more jobs paid by the taxpayers.

Gallup's Job Creation Index for April revealed “a significant more hiring within the federal government than in the private sector. Both show a substantially more positive picture than state and local governments, where firing far eclipses hiring.”

A September story in Washington Post projected a “massive hiring binge." The Post noted in September 2009 that the “feds would be hiring as many as 270,000 new workers for “mission critical jobs over the next three years, prompted in part by the large number of baby-boomer federal workers reaching retirement age. However, they also reflect increased spending on the federal level along with workers required to conduct the U.S. Census. Apparently the Post story was on target with the projection of increased hiring.

The problem is that the new jobs created by the federal government are only made possible through increased debt or more taxes paid by citizens and businesses. Ultimately, it is the private sector and individuals that will pay the costs of this hiring through their taxes or decreased value of the dollar created by inflation.

Federal Spending

Most projections indicate continued increases in federal spending. Spending in 2008 was $5.3 trillion and it's projected to grow to more than $7.1 trillion the last year of the Obama Presidential term.

Total Spending by Function   < -yr Values in $ billion (Click year for details) +yr >     2008 2009 2010 2011 2012   Total Spending 5,360 6,091 6,505 6,891 7,078 Pensions 849 934 987 1,020 1,075 Health Care 900 1,009 1,090 1,182 1,186 Education 868 916 1,047 1,100 1,165 Defense 731 795 896 929 865 Welfare 486 589 750 670 651 From www.usgovernment spending.org  Based on Federal Data                 The following chart puts current federal spending in context with the budget of about $3 billion a decade ago. Putting Spending and Taxes in Context The New York Times presents interesting charts on federal revenue and spending through Economix. The charts illustrate the big changes in where tax dollars go, with a significant decrease ivident in defense spending and an increase seen in social welfare and health care. Understanding Your Share of the Payment for Spending With all of the spending taxpayers ask just how much of this is being paid to support the government. USA Today has created an interesting online calculator that will provide precisely that information.