"Just how bad has the start of this millennium been for budget hawks?" IWF's Carrie Lukas asks in a piece on National Review today. The answer is pretty bad. Government spending has skyrocketed since 1999:
"There are understandable reasons for some of the increase in our budget: Most notably, America's population has grown - though not nearly as fast as spending. The total population in 1999 was 273 million; today it's 304 million. Yet the federal government now spends about $9,000 per person, nearly $3,000 more than was spent in 1999. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are part of the reason for the federal budget's tremendous growth, but domestic spending has also been on the rise: Non-defense discretionary spending grew by more than a third in real terms since 1999.
"Imagine if Washington had grown only at the rate of inflation plus population growth since 1999. Not only would America have no federal deficit, but we would have hundreds of billions of dollars of surplus. Even if politicians had merely held the line on non-defense discretionary spending, our deficit would be nearly $100 billion lower.
"Policymakers can justify some of the additional spending as necessary in the post-911 world. But just as surely as we've needed investments in homeland security and intelligence, plenty of the federal budget has deserved cuts. And let's be honest: Returning to 1999 spending wouldn't exactly be a journey to Spartan frugality. The Citizens for Government Waste found $12 billion of pork that year, which would have been a good place to start the trimming."
2 Comments
Jerry | January 28, 2008, 5:30pm | #
This country needs to find a way for its citizens to reward Congressmen for NOT offering proposals for projects to be funded as earmarks; or to be blunt, for those who stay away from the "pork" trough.
Right now, these pork proposals reward their authors by favoritism and votes from their constituents. It is a sure way to promote their reelection and return to Congress to do MORE pork troughing.
Congressmen are damned if they DO submit these proposals and damned if they DON'T. But the damnation when they DO is usually not from the people that put them in office, so it's shoulder to the wheel and let's go porkin'. When they DON'T offer pork proposals and their constituents see that money going to the other Congressmen in other districts, they swear vengeance during the next election.
Where is Solomon when you need him?
Sam | January 30, 2008, 2:46pm | #
Growing Social programs are the enemy within no one getting them wants to end nor do those getting reelected as well that Gift them.Our Nation somehow believes Free is Free and you can have your Cake and eat it too as long as others pay for it .
Americans now believes Big Government Santa coming to our home once a month with a check is well deserved ?