When is a Budget Not a Budget?

I was reading the article on the Federal Science Budget by Susan Morrisey in the February 21 issue of Chemical & Engineering News . I started to compare that with treatment of my own financial expenses.

When I have an expense, I write it as an amount for a purpose. For example, if I spend $200 on my electric bill, I list it as $200 for electricity. It is unstated, but I know and everybody else knows, that the electricity is used to run my refrigerator, lights, computers, etc.. In other words, there's nothing hidden in the financial entry. When I make a budget, I use the same procedure. The only difference is that the budget involves anticipated expenses, rather than current expenses.

I looked at the federal budget listing for R&D and concentrated on the following:
Energy $13 billion up 20%
National Science Foundation $6 billion up 18%
Commerce $2 billion up 29%
Education $0.5 billion up 35%

Maybe everyone else understand what that is all about, but I don't. I asked myself, "Why there are increases ranging from 18 to 35%". R&D stands for Research and Development. Perhaps everyone is satisfied with such specificity, but I am not. It would be the same as my putting in my budget an amount for "Projected Expense". I want to know what the additional expected federal expenses will be used for. What new projects are there? Am I just supposed to leave it to a bureaucrat's judgment concerning the necessity for the expense, without explanation, or do I have a right to have some information on what basis to make a judgment concerning legitimacy? A typical bureaucratic reply would be that it's too complicated for me to understand. But that's hogwash. If I couldn't understand it, neither could the bureaucrats.

Let's go on to the budgeted amounts. They range from $0.5 billion for Education to $13 billion for Energy. If I were to ask what those funds will be spent for, I would likely not get an explanation. If I did get an explanation, it would likely specify salaries, space rental or amortization, scientific equipment, legal fees, and a host of other individual expenses. But that would not be an answer to my question. My question is really why are we spending these sums of money at the federal level? What are the various projects? What are we trying to accomplish? Can it be done cheaper at the local levels?

I guess it all boils down to one simple question that can be applied to every individual expense and every project involving those expenses. Why?

Until the general public recognizes that the federal government, and governments at all levels should operate on the same financial basis as individuals and corporations, we, the public, will be victims of fraud and deception on the part of bureaucrats pursuing their personal unexplained objectives.