Well, this explains a lot about goverment spending...

I saw this on the TV while I was at the gym today. The interesting part is the last paragraph:

Where does the government get its money anyway? While 65 percent understand the government's money is their taxpayer dollars at work, some 24 percent think the federal government has "plenty of its own money without using taxpayer dollars."

Wow, we are completely screwed. It certainly explains why so many people think that the answer to any problem comes from throwing money at problems. And why government is growing at an alarming rate. And it suggests that it won't stop anytime soon.

(Yes, I know it's from Fox News. That doesn't mean that the survey is invalid - and they did a good job of making the raw numbers available (pdf).