Not sure what the bar is on "minimal."

The 2008 Federal budget was about $2.9 trillion.

Of this, $1.2 trillion is entitlements (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid), not counting any other welfare or social spending.

None of the above includes state spending on Medicaid, welfare, or other human needs.

The U.S. spends, at Federal, state and local levels, well over half a trillion dollars every year just on K-12 education, a number that has apparently doubled in the past 13 years. An intelligent person might compare that with population numbers and wonder WTF is going on.

If the Democrats succeed in adding national health care, this will probably come to another trillion per year on top of all this.

Now, you are welcome to tally up the actual costs in dollars of "subsidizing products to drive foreign native producers out of business, forcing 'free trade' zones upon the under-developed, and gratuitous aggression" I'll wait.

I think we need to revive the phrase "stuck on stupid."