[derstander]

> Spread the entire budget out, all expenses line by line for all to see, and may they survive or be culled based solely upon their merits in the eyes of the American people.

What do you envision this looks like? To my mind this is already done. For example, here's the appendix to the FY2018 budget: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BUDGET-2018-APP/pdf/BUDG...

Note that the appendix is described thusly:

"Contains detailed information on the various appropriations and funds that constitute the budget and is designed primarily for the use of the Appropriations Committees. The Appendix contains more detailed financial information on individual programs and appropriation accounts than any of the other budget documents. It includes for each agency: the proposed text of appropriations language; budget schedules for each account; legislative proposals; explanations of the work to be performed and the funds needed; and proposed general provisions applicable to the appropriations of entire agencies or group of agencies. Information is also provided on certain activities whose transactions are not part of the budget totals."

I feel like a lot of people clamor for this and it's right there for everyone to read. Not that I expect citizens to read >1,000 pages of budget information alone every year: I certainly don't. But let's not pretend the information isn't there for people who want it.

[Dalewyn]

I think that kind of proves my point: These "budgets" are so damn convoluted that nobody actually understands them. Even the House Speaker is surprised at the shit DOGE is digging up, and he's the boss of the people who write and pass the budgets.

And even that aside, anyone who knows how the real world works can understand that what should happen and what does happen are not necessarily the same especially if corruption is involved.

The whole thing needs an audit.

[derstander]

It's not clear to me that administering an entity with as many people and as much land as the United States could be done in a simple enough way that would satisfy these objections (not necessarily yours specifically, but this broad class). Though I certainly don't object to the notion that there's fat to trim and ways to make things less complicated.

I would be interested in an existence proof of this: an entity of similar population and size with a budget that's simple in comparison.

My naive expectations are that more authoritarian countries will hide a lot of budgetary items and countries with coalition-style governments will have even messier budgets than the US. Looking into that would be interesting but it's not going to make it onto my Sunday morning short-list.

My opinion about this remains that if the governed are really interested, they need to put in the ground work to understand the material that's available. Some things just are complicated and require studying to understand.