“cato-institute” Charts
Think China's Economy is a Big Success Story? Think Again. »
There have been a bunch of misleading stories about China “overtaking” the United States in economic output. But GDP is…
A Real Public Education Report Card »
Wouldn’t it be great if we could see how well students are performing across generations? And wouldn’t it be even…
Afghanistan: Obama's War »
During the period 2002-2013, $650 billion have been appropriated for the Afghan war effort, and a whopping $487.5 billion of…
Iraq: The Global Cost of Building a Failed State »
The U.S. shouldered a heavy load in the Iraq War, to the tune of $2.4 trillion from 2003-2011. As depicted…
Employment Still Not Where It Needs to Be »
The headlines from the latest employment report certainly seem positive. The unemployment rate has dropped to 6.3 percent and there…
Immigration Policy Makes Undocumented Immigrants Stay Longer »
Immigration restrictions known as the 3/10 bars have done more to lock unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. than to keep…
Department of Veterans Affairs Has Seen Budget Soar »
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is the fifth largest agency measured by spending, and VA spending has tripled since…
Look How Much We're Already Spending on the Iraq War »
Iraq was a costly war for everyone involved, including U.S. taxpayers. The annual expenditure rate of the Iraq war comes…
U.S. Power Just a Drop in the Global CO2 Emissions Bucket »
This chart shows three carbon dioxide emissions pathways generated from IPCC scenarios (one high-end, one low-end, and one middle of…
New VA Program Could Cost Big Bucks »
In the rush to deal with the Veterans Affairs crisis, the senate voted 93-3 on June 11 to expand health…
U.S. Allies Need to Step Up Their Own Defense »
American taxpayers have been subsidizing the defense of European allies for too long. And they have reacted as one would…
Iran, Stable but Miserable »
Since Hassan Rouhani became Iran's President last year, the country's economic outlook has improved, but the Misery Index (the sum…
Charting Human Progress: The Decline of Disease »
This chart shows the great decline of waterborne illnesses like typhoid and malaria in the past century. Contagious diseases that…
STEM Jobs: Where Wages Are Going Up »
The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) released a new report claiming that there is no STEM worker “shortage” after looking…
A Drop in Mortality is Stale News »
The New York Times reported that a drop in mortality in Massachusetts not seen elsewhere can be attributed to its…
Economic Recovery? Not In This Respect »
This chart shows how many working-age people are productively employed. As you can see, we fell down a hill back…
This Immigration Policy Just Isn't Working »
The 3/10 bars were a set of immigration restrictions created in 1996 intended to discourage illegal immigration. Instead, and since…
Want Better Infrastructure? Help Out the Private Sector »
America needs better infrastructure—but the most powerful way to get it is to slash taxes on business investment, since private…