Death and Taxes, Microsoft, DeepZoom and a beer fridge.

So I was invited over to Microsoft’s HQ in Redmond, WA, to talk with Larry Larsen, a Microsoft evangelist about Death and Taxes and the Deep Zoom application of it.

Here is the video. It uses SilverLight which is basically Microsoft’s answer to Adobe’s Flash. You can get SilverLight here and I highly recommend having it.

Larry was a great guy and Microsoft is not as stodgy as people think. There were plenty of ‘toys’ around and they even had a fridge with free beer. The offices were a bit like catacombs but the people seemed fun.

It was a quick trip, in and out of Redmond in about 24 hours. The video was posted on Channel 10, Microsoft’s blog for power users and early adopters. You can view it here.

I was a bit surprised that they flew me all the way out there for a blog interview, but such is the whims of the largest software company on earth.

Death and Taxes, Microsoft, DeepZoom and a beer fridge. has one response Add your thoughts.

Martha Stewart, Death, and Taxes

On April 15th, Tax Day, I, Jess Bachman, appeared on the Martha Stewart Show.

It was an odd segment for her show which typically deals with crafts, gardening and cooking. Indeed I was in between Elizabeth Vargas who was cooking prosciutto and peas, and eco-friendly gardening. The experience was great in which I detail below, but without further ado, here is the video.

Here is how the whole affair came about.

I received an email several months ago from a producer who thought the poster would make some good tax day related content. I sent them a video of myself talking about the poster so they could see that I was good on camera and not some numbers obsessed loony. The segment got passed around to numerous producers until it finally landing with Geoff Rosen. Although I have to give credit to Lenore Welby who was the first to pick me up and then subsequently went on maternity leave.

Geoff and I tossed around ideas and angles over the phone and settled on a rather long script outline that consisted of Martha’s basic questions and my responses. I arranged a flight to New York City and they arranged a hotel (DoubleTree) and rides to and from the studio. I haven’t been to NYC since I was a bit younger so it was interesting to be there with some free agency, although I was stuck in mid-town with not a lot to do. I mainly rehearsed my script in my hotel room and watched a PBS documentary on some old dead literary luminary whose name i have completely forgotten.

The next morning I was up at 6 AM and at the studio at 7:30 AM. After going through security, of which there was more of than at La Guardia, I met up with Sarah Polite, an all purpose assistant who showed me to my dressing room. The room was nice and small and came with a muffin and a few bottles of water. There was a closet, desk, chair, mirror, TV to watch the live feed, and a large black and white photo of a child running with a wild look in his eyes. It was slightly disturbing.

I met up with Geoff, who looked slightly older than I, 27, even though he mentioned he had worked on the Rikki Lake show several years prior. We went over the script together and took me to makeup where they teased my hair, which I later fixed, then they teased it again. I also had bronzer and some other miscellany applied to my face and neck, all a first for me.

Back to my dressing room while I waited until Elizabeth Vargas to finish her studio rehersal. Then Geoff and I took our turns in front of the cameras and empty studio audience. I ran through the script a few times and I knew it was a bit long but Geoff assured me we could get it in on time. I also had to hold all the little graph props they had made while the cameras took bank shots. The stage manager was quite chipper and moved things along pretty quickly.

Back to my dressing room again while the 10 o’clock hour rolled around. I started to watch the live feed but it made me too nervous so I turned it off. Geoff comes in wanting to know if I knew how much the IRS spent on audits. I didn’t think that information was publically available and told him so but he said Martha really wanted to know so if I could find out that would be great. I couldn’t so they actually placed a call to the IRS and were subsequently told that that information was not publicly available.

A few minutes before our segment Geoff took me out to the studio. I had some last minute hair touch ups and attention from some guy whose sole purpose was to use a lint roller on my black sweater vest. A few members actually took my picture while I was waiting off camera, thinking I must have been photo worthy, only to be disappointed that I was indeed, the tax guy. In fact, I was the tax guy the whole time I was there as various assistant producers and Martha employees brought their tax related questions to me. “So, if I file in one state, but my main income is in another state, do I have to…”. I really focus more on the government spending side rather than the personal taxes side, but people didn’t seem to care, I was the tax guy.

So we get back from commercial and I am sitting there with Martha ready to start the live segment. Immediately she calls me “Jeff Bachman” when my name is “Jess Bachman” so I shoot her a quick look which gets caught on camera, look for it. Then she derails the script by asking the audience questions and such so we are way behind on time for an already tight segment. Needless to say I had to leave stuff out while trying to hit my main points all the while Geoff is off to the side waving his arms in a “Hurry it up” type motion. It was fun though, I had prepared well and I thought I looked rather natual for my first time on national TV. After the segment wrapped, Martha and I had a quick chat about how much taxes she pays and such. I told her that I calculated that she herself has paid over $100,000 for the War on Terror alone, and she quipped that it was likely much more due to how the government got her a while back.

A photographer took a few photos of Martha and I, although I am not sure for what purpose, as I never received any. Thten back to my dressing room to relax and what the rest of the show. Sarah, the assistant comes in and says that Martha wants 20 posters to give out at a dinner party she was having on Friday with the mayor and other guests; she ask that I make some calls. I said “Now?”, she said “yes.” So I arraigned posters to be overnighted to NYC for her party. I hope Martha didn’t get in over her head with all the information, its a powerful tool.

After the live show wraps I am out the door and take a car back to the hotel. Catch a flight home an hour later. I am now a celeb, although people fail to recognize my new found ‘famous person walk’ in the airport. That’s ok though, I have plans to do a NYC/LA junket next year, Jon Stewart, Letterman, Leno, Oprah, Tyra, Dr Phil, Montel here I come, enlightening federal budget visualization in hand.

Martha Stewart, Death, and Taxes has 2 responses Add your thoughts.

Total military and national security spending in the U.S. federal budget.

Every year people ask me, “Just what is all this military/national security spending you list?”. Well I have decided to type it all out once and for all. What qualifies spending as ‘military’ or ‘national security’ is subjective. There is strict interpretations which only includes funding with in the Department of Defense, and there are loose interpretation which include portions of the national debt and subsequent interest payments as a direct result of military spending. I try to strike a balance between loose and strict. Below is a table which includes all the military and national security spending that makes up the $799 Billion listed on the Death and Taxes poster for 2009.

The government has an official categorization of defense spending. It’s function 050.

“National Defense” (”Function 050″): Federal budget category that consists of the Department of Defense budget (”Function 051″); Department of Energy programs devoted to national defense, such as naval ship reactors and nuclear weapons (”Function 053″); and other defense-related activities including the Selective Service System and civil defense programs administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (”Function 054″).

But protecting our national borders and interests is not solely contained within function 050 spending. The table below details all the military and national security spending that make up the $799 Billion that I use for the poster. Each function and department is color coded.

Total Military and National Security Spending in the 2009 Federal Budget

source: 2009 Presidential Budget Request

Category	Department	Program	Budget Authority ($Billion)	Description/Justification
Function 051	Defense	Department of Defense	515.440	Where the bulk of the military spending takes place
Function 053	Energy	National Nuclear Security Administration	9.097	Maintains nuclear weapon stockpile and maintains application of nuclear energy. i.e. Naval reactors.
Function 053	Energy	Environmental and Other Defense Activities	6.857	Disposal of old nuclear weapons and cleanup of military test sites.
Function 053	Energy	Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability	.008	???
Function 053	Labor	Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Fund	.948	Compensation to employees who were injured to radiation exposure at a nuclear testing site.
Function 053	Labor	Administrative Expenses, Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Fund	.108	Administration for the above. ^
Function 053	Corps of Engineers	Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program	.130	more nuclear testing site cleanup.
Function 053	Independent Agency	Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board	.025	Congressional oversight of the nuclear weapons complexes
Function 054	Commerce	Bureau of Industry and Security Operations and Administration	.015	Ensures an effective export control and treaty compliance.
Function 054	Homeland Security	United States Coast Guard	.340	Military functions of the Coast Guard
Function 054	Homeland Security	Acquisition, Construction, and Improvements	.003	???
Function 054	Homeland Security	National Protection and Programs Directorate	.841	For Infrastructure Protection and Information Security.
Function 054	Homeland Security	Federal Emergency Management Agency	.294	For Operations, Management and Administration
Function 054	Justice	Salaries and Expenses	.020	???
Function 054	Justice	Payment to Radiation Exposure Compensation Trust Fund	.031	Compensation to people exposed to radiation during above ground nuclear tests from 1945 through 1962.
Function 054	Justice	Federal Bureau of Investigation	2.793	For Counter-terrorism and salaries and expenses related there to.
Function 054	Transportation	Maritime Security Program	.174	Privately owned fleet that can support a Department of Defense sustainment in a contingency.
Function 054	Corps of Engineers	Office of Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works)	.006	Arlington National Cemetery and the Soldiers’ and Airmen’s home National Cemetery administrative functions.
Function 054	Civil Defense	Selective Service System	.022	Administers military conscription.
Function 054	National Science Foundation	Research and Related Activities	.067	???
Function 054	Central Intelligence Agency	Payment to Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability System Fund	.279	CIA retirement payments.
Function 054	Central Intelligence Agency	Intelligence Community Management Account	.665	Umbrella organization for oversight of the Intelligence community.
Function 054	Independent Agency	Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board	.002	Advises the President to ensure that concerns with respect to privacy and civil liberties are appropriately considered in the implementation of all laws, regulations, and executive branch policies related to efforts to protect the Nation against terrorism.
		Total Function 050	538.165
Function 153	State	International Peacekeeping Activities	1.497	Promotes increased involvement of regional organizations in conflict resolution and help leverage support for multinational efforts where no formal cost sharing mechanism is available.
Function 151	State	Counter-Narcotics Assistance	1.609	Provides funds for military equipment and training to overseas police and armed forces to combat the production and trafficking of illegal drugs
Function 152	State	Economic Support Fund	3.154	Promote economic and political stability in strategically important regions where the United States has special security interests, these grants allow the recipient government to free up its own money for military programs.
Function 152	State	Foreign Military Financing	4.812	Congressionally appropriated grants given to foreign governments to finance the purchase of American-made weapons, services and training.
Function 152	State	International Military Education and Training	.090	Military Education and Training grants to allied nations.
Function 152	State	Peacekeeping Operations	.247	Voluntary support for international peacekeeping activities.
Function 152	State	Nonproliferation, Antiterrorism, Demining, and Related Programs	.499	Funds go to nuclear non-proliferation programs, anti-terrorism aid, demining activities, and small arms destruction programs.
		Total function 150	11.909
Function 751	Homeland Security	Immigration and Customs Enforcement	5.364	The mission of ICE is to protect America and uphold public safety by targeting the people, money and materials that support terrorist and criminal activities. Established with the Homeland Security Act of 2002, the ICE is the largest investigative arm of DHS, and the second largest contributor to the nation €™s Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Function 751	Homeland Security	Customs and Border Protection	9.494	While one role of Customs is to regulate international trade and collect import duties, its other primary mission is consists of preventing terrorists and terrorist weapons from entering the United States.
Function 751	Homeland Security	Domestic Nuclear Detection Office	.596	Improves the Nation €™s capability to detect and report unauthorized attempts to import, possess, store, develop, or transport nuclear or radiological material for use against the Nation
		Total Function 751	15.454
Function 703	Veterans Affairs	Entire department not including benefits which is mandatory.	44.767	The government does not consider supporting our veterans military spending. However I make no distinction between the funding of current troops and the funding of past troops. Clearly the size of the active military has a direct relationship to the size of the veteran population and subsequent funding.
Function 051 (supplemental)	Defense	Global War on Terror	189.316	The administration uses $70 billion for this figure in 2009 which is just a placeholder pending further enactment of the 2008 request. The real estimated total is $180-200 billion. $189.316 billion was used at it is the 2008 estimated total.
		Total Other	234.083
		Total Military/National Security Spending	799.611

Total military and national security spending in the U.S. federal budget. has one response Add your thoughts.

The WallStats.com FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

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Death and Taxes Questions:

• Why do you focus on the discretionary budget?
• What do you consider military or national security spending?
• Where is agency XYZ?
• How come some numbers differ from last years poster?
• Why is the TSA not listed as national security related?
• How come some circles are bigger than their parent circles?
• Is the data accurate?
• Is the information impartial?

Ask A Question!

General Questions:

What happened to TheBudgetGraph.com?

TheBudgetGraph.com has folded into WallStats.com. I will be providing new informational products and posters in the future on topics besides budgetary data, so a new website was needed to house Death and Taxes as well as other products. You can read about the transition here.

Did I see you on the Martha Stewart Show?

Yes, I appeared on the show on April 15th to talk to Martha about taxes and government spending. You can read about the experience here.

Why should I sign up for the newsletter?

The newsletter is sent out very infrequently and will have information about new posters and products, as well as discounts. I personally hate getting frequent spammy newsletters so I try to craft my own with lots of useful information sent out only a few times a year.

Shipping/Order Questions:

How big is the poster?

The poster is 24”x36”. It is printed on high quality 100# semi gloss cover stock with an aqueous coating for protection. It is about as thick as card stock. It will fit in all standard 24”x36” sized frames.

How is the poster shipped?

The poster is shipped from two locations. It is shipped via UPS from the mid-west and via USPS from the east coast. Shipping generally takes 2-4 business days depending on your location. The posters are shipping in sturdy tubes for protection.

My poster was damaged during shipping, can I get a replacement?

Yes, 1 out of every 200 posters somehow gets mangled (usually by UPS). A replacement poster can be sent at no extra cost.

Do you ship international?

Yes, posters have been shipped all over the world. Currently, however, you must contact me to place an international order.

Do you have any posters from previous years available?

There are still some posters available for the 2008 edition. The 2004 and 2007 versions are SOLD OUT. Reprints can be requested at additional expense.

Death and Taxes Questions:

Why do you focus on the discretionary budget?

The discretionary budget funds all cabinet level departments and what is referred to most often when people think of the ‘federal government.’ It is the single largest part of the budget at one trillion dollars or roughly one third of pot. It is also the portion of the budget that Congress can easily push numbers around year to year which makes it a great tool for tracking our real national priorities. The total budget is depicted (not to scale) in the bottom right corner of the Death and Taxes poster.

Entitlement spending is also not included in detail for practical reasons. Social Security and Medicare cannot be broken down into small programs as other governmental departments can. The bulk of the funds are small payments to millions of people which cannot be graphed in the same manner as the rest of the poster. If entitlement spending were included to scale with the discretionary budget the overall detail of the poster would have to be decreased dramatically if the 24″x36″ size were to me maintained.

What do you consider military or national security spending?

While many people think the military is confined to the Department of Defense, that is not the case. The government labels national defense funding as 050. This includes subfunction 051 for the Department of Defense, subfunction 053 for defense activities within the Department of Energy, and subfunction 054 for defense activities in a variety of other governmental departments.

The total for function 050 is $611.131 Billion of which the Department of Defense accounts for 84%.

In addition to that is $8.627 Billion for security funding in the Department of State. Such items include Foreign Military Financing, the Economic Support Fund, and other international security, peacekeeping and counterdrug operations.

The Department of Homeland Security contributes another $14.858 Billion to secure and protect our national borders.

The administration does not consider funding the Department of Veterans Affairs to be military related spending. I disagree. Funding for our veterans is directly proportional to the size of our military and increases during war time when the wounded need to be cared when they return home. I make no distinction between the funding of current and past troops. This adds another $44.764 Billion to the total.

Funding for the Global War on Terror is very confusing and hard to measure. The administration has $70 Billion as it’s estimate for a supplemental GWOT appropriation. This figure is a placeholder pending further enactment of the FY 2008 request of which Congress only partially approved. The $70 Billion represents the absolute bare minimum the Department of Defense would need to bring everyone and everything home on the first day of the fiscal year. Obviously that won’t happen and experts have pegged the 2009 GWOT spending in the $180-$200 Billion range. I use the $189.316 figure because it is from the FY 2008 spending requests and remains the most accurate information to date on GWOT spending.

So subtract the erroneous $70 Billion figure from function 050 and add a more accurate $189 Billion and you have close to $800 Billion for military and national security. A full and detailed explanation of all national security funding can be found here.

Where is agency XYZ?

While the poster contains over 500 items, it is not inclusive of every government agency. The main reasons why an agency or department was not depicted are because its budget was under $200 million, it’s funding was paid for by offsetting receipts resulting in a small or nil budget authority, it was non-discretionary, or there simply was not enough room on the poster.

How come some numbers differ from last years poster?

The poster is of the President’s February budget request. While the President may terminate a program, Congress may continue funding for it, and unless the President veto’s the congressional resolution, funding will continue for the 2008 terminated program. This doesn’t stop the President from trying to terminate it again the following year.

Why is the TSA not listed as national security related?

The Transportation Security Administration was originally part of the Department of Transportation but moved when the Department of Homeland Security was created. The TSA is a collection of low level security guards that used to be privately contracted by the airline or airport, and are now part of the federal government. Although increasingly airport security is contracted out again to private companies under the TSA’s Screening Partnership Program. The two main goals of the TSA are airport security the prevention of aircraft hijacking and while these are important, they offer little in terms of national security. The TSA operates more like police for airports than any real counter terrorism program.

How come some circles are bigger than their parent circles?

This is because the funding for the large circles is not part of the discretionary budget or funded through loans and fees. Such is the case with the Small Business Administration which is a small department of $.468 billion managing a large amount of loans which are repaid.

Is the data accurate?

Yes. The figures used to create the graph come directly from the President’s official budget request and the comptroller of the Department of Defense. The Intelligence budget figures are estimates from globalsecurity.org.

Is the information impartial?

I make every effort to ensure the information is free from bias, however what is considered ‘National Security spending’ is a debatable term. Conservative totals only include the Department of Defense, and more liberal totals include portions of the national debt interest which may be military related. The total I use falls somewhere in the middle and is justified in this post.

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Post your question below, or contact me for private inqueries.

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WallStats.com is born! Good-bye TheBudgetGraph.com…

WallStats.com is here and its all new!

TheBudgetGraph.com which was the original home of the Death and Taxes poster can no longer hold my ambition and talent. With new, exciting, and useful informational products in development, I needed a new home with a wider umbrella. WallStats.com was launched to house the Death and Taxes poster as well as all the content on TheBudgetGraph.com. It will also be home to the other posters currently in various stages of development. I hope to release new products every few months. Make sure you sign up for the newsletter for first looks and discounts.

TheBudgetGraph.com was a fun ride though with numerous peaks.

Lots of web 2.0 exposure and other blogosphere coverage, with some traditional magazine spreads as well. WallStats.com is lining up to top that with some national TV coverage this Tuesday, April 15th on The Martha Stewart Show. It will be interesting to see how national TV translate into web visits. Normally I can track every last detail of a visit from another website, but that can’t be done with TV. I will post the data when I analyze it.

I will be putting a lot effort into WallStats.com; much more than TheBudgetGraph.com so I hope you all can come and enjoy the ride with me.

Cheers,

Jess

p.s. Many thanks to all the bloggers, forum posters, and commited citizens who provide me with many thousands of backlinks and a PR 5. Now update those links! www.WallStats.com

WallStats.com is born! Good-bye TheBudgetGraph.com… has no responses Add your thoughts.