Open Budget Index

My favorite is when I'm doing battle with a socialist, I have the budget pulled up on my laptop or the stats on my memory stick, and I show them, PROVE to them, beyond all reasonable and unreasonable doubt that they are wrong and/or misinformed to the point it would be glaringly obvious to a 5 year old that they're wrong and what do I get in return?

The standard leftist, knee-jerk reaction response;

"Well, you know you can't trust those figures. Bush and the Republicans are manipulating the budget to make it look that way."

And my standard response to them is, "OK, do you have an alternative budget or proof that would suggest that?"

Of course, the answer is "no."

"Well then, until you have some rival data or budget and that rival data or budget comes from a reputable source, it'll be the official US Federal Government Budget figures we'll be using."

Thus, I was pleased when I saw this new chart from The Economist.

Measures how open a government is with its budget.