John Maeda, inspired by an article in Parade (a national newspaper insert) has created a web application, Money Counter, to show the dramatic difference in US government spending on arts and science.

It also demonstrates spending differences in Business/Safety, Nucleur Energy/Cleanup and Nucleur Energy/Alternatives. A little poking around the source code also shows some hidden options Alcohol/Drugs and Abstinence/Awareness. Of course, all these statistics can be either positive or negative depending on your viewpoint.