Summary Of Red Ink By David Wessel

This book Red Ink: Inside the High-Stakes Politics of the Federal Budget, written by David Wessel, provides a readable format for readers with or without specific financial background to briefly understand the whole picture of the federal budget. The book consists of five chapters. In the first chapter, Wessel began with, as a reporter, a scene that the president was about to give a speech on federal budget for next fiscal year, guiding readers to understanding the real issues about federal budget the U.S. government was facing. These serious issues came with bond face, including the fact that the amount of defense and healthcare spending was great, that the Americans are actually paying less portion of their income in tax than other …show more content…
The second chapter talked about how the issues, chronicling the government’s financial and tax policy changes and the subsequent impact since World War II. The third chapter mentioned where the money of the budget went (spends on Medicare and Medicaid, Social Security and Defense occupied more than 60% of the total $3.6-trillion federal budget in 2011), and whether it is possible to cut these spending to reduce deficits. The fourth chapters implied that the money of the budget came from income taxes on individuals, payroll taxes on employers and employees, and debt (both domestic and foreign). In addition, Wessel touched on the “fairness” problem with paying taxes (who should pay and how much should be paid), demonstrating graphs and statistical data about government’s tax revenue allocation among taxpayers with different income bracket. The last chapter provided that unemployment,