Via Kevin Drum, this is really the most amazing graphic I’ve ever seen:

Budgetjp
At any given time, significantly more than half of Americans think the government’s primary outlays are coming from food stamps and foreign aid. Meanwhile, back in reality-land, Americans spend $32 billion on food stamps and $7.4 billion on foreign aid, all this coming out of a $2.5 trillion budget. The two combined account for about 1.5% of spending. I wonder which party could have misled them so?

At any given time, significantly more than half of Americans think the government’s primary outlays are coming from food stamps and foreign aid. Meanwhile, back in reality-land, Americans spend $32 billion on food stamps and $7.4 billion on foreign aid, all this coming out of a $2.5 trillion budget. The two combined account for about 1.5% of spending. I wonder which party could have misled them so?

Ezra Klein is a former Prospect writer and current editor-in-chief at Vox. His work has appeared in the LA Times, The Guardian, The Washington Monthly, The New Republic, Slate, and The Columbia Journalism Review. He’s been a commentator on MSNBC, CNN, NPR, and more.