Two great weapons for debating economics with lefties

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I’ve stumbled across two great resources — both available for free online — that provide great info, in layman’s terms, for defending capitalism and the free market from the liberal hordes.  First, is the 2011 Budget Chart Book published by the DC-based Heritage Foundation.  The book takes the federal FY2012 budget and breaks it down in terms that don’t require a PhD in economics to interpret.  Heritage’s document provides some great nuggets like:

  • A historical study showing how federal spending is growing faster than federal revenue
  • How mandatory spending (entitlements) has increased five times faster than discretionary spending
  • How defense spending has declined while entitlement spending has increased
  • More than half of the current federal budget is devoted to retirements
  • How runaway spending, and not inadequate tax revenue, is responsible for future deficits
For North Carolinians, the Raleigh-based John Locke Foundation has published a great primer on state government and its spending habits entitled Agenda 2010.  This publication includes some great tidbits like:
  • Details on state spending and the state government’s debt
  • Info on public school standards and spending
  • State agency redundancy and consolidation
  • Spending on — and growth of —  state entitlements