We all hear about how the US is going broke. Depending on the viewpoint or agenda of the source of what we hear, read or see, the cause of the federal government’s financial problems varies.

Unfortunately, there is almost always a lack of actual facts and perspective, so the public is left to try to make sense of the issues with:

• beliefs and emotions that are often manipulated by politicians wanting votes
• vested interests wanting to maintain their sources of money
• media outlets whose ratings are dependent on keeping their viewers and listeners emotionally agitated
• fund raisers who’ve learned that messages of potential disaster increase contributions

We briefly found a way to get just the facts about how your own tax dollars are spent but since has been taken down.

The link allowed you to input the total federal taxes you paid, and then broke down where that money went. Instead, here is a link from The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities that gives similar details (just not personalized).

Most of us will likely have some surprises when we see the actual amounts.