Pareto's Priciple (80/20) is everywhere! Yes, even the federal budget.

[Wonk]

I seem to be developing a knack for posting absurd information.  Thankfully, Craig allows me the opportunity to post such things on the board.

Ok, random information of the day...

The Pareto Principle (80/20 rule) is a key concept in my life as I'm always looking for the critical 20% of inputs that drive 80% of the outcomes in just about everything. So, as I'm looking over the 2010 U.S. federal budget today figuring out how I'd balance it if I were king for 4 years, I started crunching a few numbers.

There are 32 federal budget departments/categories between mandatory and discretionary spending.

20% of 32 = 6.4

Add up the expenditures of the top 6 departments and what do you get?

$2820 Billion

What are the total expenditures of all 32 departments?

$3552 Billion

The top 20% of all federal departments account for 79.39% of all expenditures.  So, you want to balance the budget?  Focus your efforts on these 6 departments.

[moda0306]

Unfortunately, you're probably talking about defense, social security, medicare, and unemployment insurance making up a big piece of that.

I'm for cutting all of them, but they're all pretty sacred... especially as our demographics age.

[Pkg Man]

I seem to be developing a knack for posting absurd information.  Thankfully, Craig allows me the opportunity to post such things on the board.

Ok, random information of the day...

The Pareto Principle (80/20 rule) is a key concept in my life as I'm always looking for the critical 20% of inputs that drive 80% of the outcomes in just about everything. So, as I'm looking over the 2010 U.S. federal budget today figuring out how I'd balance it if I were king for 4 years, I started crunching a few numbers.

There are 32 federal budget departments/categories between mandatory and discretionary spending.

20% of 32 = 6.4

Add up the expenditures of the top 6 departments and what do you get?

$2820 Billion

What are the total expenditures of all 32 departments?

$3552 Billion

The top 20% of all federal departments account for 79.39% of all expenditures.  So, you want to balance the budget?  Focus your efforts on these 6 departments.

Hmmmm... I really like the logic here.  I too like the 80/20 rule.  I would go so far as to eliminate the bottom 80% of all federal departments.  It's not like we even had those departments 100 years ago, and I'm sure we could do without them if we had to.