Similar to companies, the U.S. government must prepare budget each year. However, unlike private, for-profit companies, the budget and its details are available to the public. The entire budgetary process is established by law. The government makes available a considerable amount of information concerning the federal budget. Most of this information can be found on the Internet. For your initial post, go to the following Internet resource the Office of Management and Budget at www.whitehouse.gov/omb),Links to an external site. and answer one of the following questions:

(1) When is the federal budget prepared? (2) Who is responsible for preparing the federal budget? (3) How is the final federal budget determined? Summarize how the government creates its budget. (4) What are the revenue sources for the federal budget? (5) How are deficits financed?

Then go to the 2020 Congressional Pig-Book Summary at https://www.cagw.org/reporting/pig-bookLinks to an external site.. You can download the PDF copy of the book. This book lists items that are considered "pork-barrel spending" (spending around the budget). Skim this document and list one or two items that surprise you or that you consider wasteful and discuss why.

Note: This Discussion Board takes a little bit of digging around the Office of Management and Budget website as well as the Congressional Pig-Book Summary. Give yourself some extra time to work on this discussion board.