Death and Taxes 2009 poster is out: Quick Quiz!

(via kottke) This is awesome - Death and Taxes has a poster up of the entire Federal budget for 2009. Fun to zoom in and see what's up. Here, have some original content:

Which will cost more in 2009?

1. The war in/on Iraq or interest on the National Debt?
2. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve or the Post Office?
3. The Bureau of Indian Affairs or the DEA?
4. NASA or the No Child Left Behind Act?
5. The Missile Defense Agency or the Marines?

Extra credit question: Balance the budget. Hint: you need another 407 billion dollars!

Here's my off-the cuff attempt:

• Halve our submarine budget - 1 billion.
• Eliminate the Missile Defense Agency: 9 billion.
• Eliminate Fusion Energy Research: half a billion.
• Halve the War on Terror expenditures: 90 billion.
• Ask every man, woman, and child in America for a grand a head: 300 billion.

Ha ha ha ha, nice try. Other intellectual hobbyhorses:

We should clear out the immigration visa backlog by offering an "expedited service" fee. We already do this with passports for US citizens. Heck, make it a 3-tier service. Why become an American when you can pay more and become a "Super American?"

Offer a sliding scale for H1-B visas, so that the more we issue, the more they cost. Currently we stop issuing them in January. If foreign workers are really so great, US companies will be willing to spend more to get the workers here.

On a long-term basis, adjust the mortgage deduction and income taxes based on the level of the federal deficit. Sadly, if we're going to fix the deficit, it's ultimately going to come out of my pockets.