Wheres the Welfare State?
by Morris K. Udall Copyright 1962 by The New Republic. Reprinted with permission from The New Republic, October 1, 1962, pp. 13-14. In January the Bureau of the Budget published its annual best-seller, “The Budget in Brief,” an analysis of federal spending plans for the fiscal year starting July 1, 1962. In this fiscal year it was estimated this nation’s Gross National Product would reach $570 billion. Federal receipts were to be $93 billion and federal expenditures $92.5 billion, or roughly 16 percent of the total value of all goods and services produced by individuals and corporations during the year. Today it appears the $570 billion figure was overly optimistic and that the total will be about $555 billion, a new high but not enough to save us from a loss of tax revenue and a deficit rather than a surplus. The budget pamphlet explains where these tax funds will be spent. Going through the list of budget items, one can see rather quickly that the expenditures fall into two categorie
