Federal obligations for benefit programs and the national debt were $63.8 trillion in 2008. The cost per household ($) for various categories was as follows:
Category Cost per Household ($)
Civil servant retirement..........................15,851
Federal debt.......................................54,537
Medicare.........................................284,288
Military retirement..............................29,694
Social Security.................................160,216
Other...............................................2,172
a. Compute the percentage of values in each category.
b. What conclusions can you reach concerning the benefit programs?