US Budget on ManyEyes

[Jennifer Bell]

I know this came up when it was released in April, but I was just looking at the US budget, from data posted by the US OMB (good for them!) on ManyEyes again.  It's so interesting how the treemap visualization puts things in context.  

http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/visualizations/us-2009-budget-hierarchical-treemap

For instance: check out the whomping payments to 'stabilize tobacco farming', under Agriculture: Tobacco Trust.  Apparently, this costs the US government as much as Social Security.

That doesn't seem right...  

Jennifer Bell
http://visiblegovernment.ca


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Get the name you've always wanted @ymail.com or @rocketmail.com! Go to http://ca.promos.yahoo.com/jacko/

[Michael Mulley]

No, it doesn't seem right -- the three biggest US government programs
are Social Security, Medicare/aid, and the military, which between
them account for a hefty majority of US federal spending (despite
taking up <10% of that treemap).

Good example of how visualizing information can sometimes make data
problems readily apparent (and of how, especially with byzantine
government data, careful interpretation and editorial choices are
crucial).

On Fri, Sep 25, 2009 at 2:25 PM, Jennifer Bell <[hidden email]> wrote:

> I know this came up when it was released in April, but I was just looking at the US budget, from data posted by the US OMB (good for them!) on ManyEyes again.  It's so interesting how the treemap visualization puts things in context.
>
> http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/visualizations/us-2009-budget-hierarchical-treemap
>
> For instance: check out the whomping payments to 'stabilize tobacco farming', under Agriculture: Tobacco Trust.  Apparently, this costs the US government as much as Social Security.
>
> That doesn't seem right...
>
> Jennifer Bell
> http://visiblegovernment.ca
>
>
>      __________________________________________________________________
> Get the name you've always wanted @ymail.com or @rocketmail.com! Go to http://ca.promos.yahoo.com/jacko/
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