Cabinet & Government Finances

1. Cabinet & Government Finances CNN Student News Lecture Independent Study – Trump’s Cabinet

2. The Constitution gave Congress the power to tax—use those funds to pay for everything government does • Primary source of money is Personal Income Tax-makes up approximately 44% of the budget • Other taxes include: corporate income tax, Social Secuirty tax, excise tax (“sin” tax) and tariffs Taxing

3. Bureaucracy-the organizational system of government-makes decisions/spends money • Federal agencies-FBI, CIA, EPA, etc • Cabinet-the heads of all of the executive departments (State, Treasury, etc.)-advise the president on their specific area • Departments and agencies receive a share of the money-recommended by president but voted on by Congress • Largest areas of spending are social security and defense Spending

4. Money that must be spent-already committed • Social Security • People pay in to while working and are entitled to get the funds back Mandatory Spending

6. Can change over time or be eliminated all together • Medicare • National insurance program • Provides health benefits for people over 65 or younger people with certain diseases/disabilities • Paid into by workers • Pays about ½ the cost of the medical care received by patient Discretionary Spending

8. Choice is to either increase taxes or decrease spending • Current deficit (yearly shortfall for 2016)-$441billion • Current debt (all deficits added together)-$20.1 trillion • Budget deficit is the difference between what the federal government spends and what it takes in • National Debt is the result of the federal government borrowing money to cover years and years of budget deficits