The Debt-Sea Scrolls

The Debt Sea, that ocean of red ink that threatens to overflow its banks and inundate every nook and cranny in America from Main Street to Wall street, is bordered on the south by the Potomac River, to the east-southeast by the Anacostia River, to the north-northeast by Prince Georges County, Maryland, to the north-northwest by Montgomery County, Maryland and to the immediate west by Georgetown and the historic 175-year-old Chesapeake-and-Ohio Canal.

The Debt-Sea Scrolls tell a story of evolving fiscal folly that could represent one of the greatest man-made disasters ever — the destruction of mankind’s most successful experiment in governance and the crippling of an economic system that produced the greatest sustained prosperity the world has ever known.  The first of the Debt-Sea Scrolls was written around 80-years ago when the government believed it could spend its way out of the Great Depression with money it didn’t have…with money it didn’t even almost have.  The programs (known as the “New Deal”) described in the first of the Debt-Sea Scrolls didn’t succeed in revitalizing American industry.  It was The Second World War and the massive Lend-Lease program with which we became the “Arsenal for Democracy” that finally succeeded in revitalizing American Industry. By the time the war was over, so was the Great Depression. Unemployment had plummeted to below 2.0% by the time the war ended in 1945 from 14.6% in 1940, which was essentially the rate of unemployment during the early years of the depression and seven years of New Deal Keynesian prime-the-pump policies.  Following the war, American industry converted from wartime to peacetime production and the rate of unemployment remained below 6.0% for over a decade and for most of the half century that followed.

We learn from the Debt-Sea Scrolls that unsustainable national debt, fueled by easy credit that required borrowers to have very little skin in the game (sound familiar?) was, more than any other factor, generally credited with igniting the economic conflagration we now know as the Great Depression.  Ironically we are now, seventy years later, adding unsustainable debt (to already unsustainable debt) at a level many economists believe will seriously impede our recovery and may end any hope of returning to robust prosperity.  We are, systematically, mortgaging the future of our children, their children and their children’s children as well.

Let us pause to consider the debt-spawning spending spree on which the government has embarked and proposes further to accelerate.

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Tags: deficit spending, entitlement spending, Fannie Mae, federal debt, federal spending
Posted Mar 14th 2010 at 6:01 am in Congress, Economics, Featured Story, News, Politics, federal spending | 88606122 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/oftheeising/2010/03/14/the-debt-sea-scrolls/The+Debt-Sea+Scrolls2010-03-14+14%3A01%3A36Of+Thee+I+Sing+1776

Keynesian Economics and the Wizard of Oz

When Dorothy and her friends finally reach Oz, they present themselves to the almighty Wizard, only to eventually discover that he is just an illusion maintained by a charlatan hiding behind a curtain. This seems eerily akin to to the state of Keynesian economics. It does not matter that Keynesianism isn’t working for Obama. It does not matter that it didn’t work for Bush, or for Japan in the 1990s, or for Hoover and Roosevelt in the 1930s.

In the ultimate triumph of theory over reality, the Keynesians say all that matters is the macroeconomic model behind the curtain showing that more government spending leads to more jobs and growth. Consider the recent report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which claimed that Obama’s stimulus created at least one million jobs. As Brian Riedl of the Heritage Foundation noted:

CBO’s calculations are not based on actually observing the economy’s recent performance. Rather, they used an economic model that was programmed to assume that stimulus spending automatically creates jobs — thus guaranteeing their result. …The problem here is obvious. Once CBO decided to assume that every dollar of government spending increased GDP…, its conclusion that the stimulus saved jobs was pre-ordained.

But surely this can’t be true, you may be thinking. Our public servants in Washington would not make important policy decisions based on a model that automatically produces a certain result, would they? Peter Suderman of Reason pulls aside the curtain:

…those reports rely on assumption-packed models that effectively predetermine their outcomes; what they say, in essence, is that the stimulus worked because we assume it did. …That’s especially true when estimating government spending’s productive effects, which is accomplished by plugging numbers into a formula that assumes that government spending produces a multiplier—an increased return for every government dollar spent. In other words, it extrapolates from how much money is put in rather than from what has actually come out. And it does so using a formula that dictates that if money is put in, even more money will come out. According to the CBO’s estimates, depending on how the money is spent, one dollar of government spending can produce total economic activity of up to $2.50. What a deal! …for all practical purposes, the same multipliers that were used to predict how many jobs would be created are being used to estimate how many jobs have been created.

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Tags: Big Government, CBO, Deficit, Economics, federal spending
Posted Mar 13th 2010 at 5:10 pm in Congress, Economics, News, Obama, Politics, Uncategorized | 88538248 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/dmitchell/2010/03/13/keynesian-economics-and-the-wizard-of-oz/Keynesian+Economics+and+the+Wizard+of+Oz2010-03-14+01%3A10%3A17Dan+Mitchell

The Unemployment Benefit Black Card

Tuesday, the U.S. Senate passed another Democratic multi-billion dollar legislative handout designed to temporarily alleviate the continuous financial burden hanging over the nation’s unemployed and fiscally irresponsible states.

Democrats—with six Republicans tagging along for the spending spree—swiped the nation’s Centurion Card to the tune of $140 billion, and went home with bags overflowing with goodies: subsides for health insurance, funds to prevent states from laying off public service employees, extensions of unemployment benefits, etc.

Senator Chuck Schumer—apparently now worried about the chattering class—patted himself on the back for a day’s work and proclaimed, “While our Republican colleagues on healthcare have been stonewall[ing], on jobs they know that they block us at their own political peril … and substantive peril as well.”

New York’s senior senator is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.

This initiative can’t possibly be touted as a jobs bill when nearly 90% of the funds appropriated are unrelated to job-creation. Moreover, the Republicans who did cross party lines to support this measure, supported—what amounted to—another spending bill, and they might be doing that at their own political peril.

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Tags: federal spending, Jim Bunning, paygo, unemployment, unemployment benefits
Posted Mar 12th 2010 at 11:17 am in Congress, Economics, Politics, federal spending | 87630112 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/jarenas/2010/03/12/the-unemployment-benefit-black-card/The+Unemployment+Benefit+Black+Card2010-03-12+19%3A17%3A28J.C.+Arenas

Breaking: House GOP Adopts Unilateral Ban on All Earmarks

This morning, the House GOP Caucus adopted a unilateral ban on all earmarks.

For millions of Americans, the earmark process in Congress has become a symbol of a broken Washington. Today House Republicans took an important step toward showing the American people we’re serious about reform by adopting an immediate, unilateral ban on all earmarks. But the more difficult battle lies ahead, and that’s stopping the spending spree in Washington that is saddling our children and grandchildren with trillions of dollars in debt. Only then will we have succeeded in bringing fundamental change to the way Congress spends taxpayers’ money.

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Tags: earmark ban, Earmarks, federal spending
Posted Mar 11th 2010 at 9:04 am in Congress, News, federal spending | 87814137 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/jboehner/2010/03/11/breaking-house-gop-adopts-unilateral-ban-on-all-earmarks/Breaking%3A+House+GOP+Adopts+Unilateral+Ban+on+All+Earmarks2010-03-11+17%3A04%3A19Rep.+John+Boehner

US Census Form Letter Promises ‘Fair Share’ of Federal Money

Knowing that federal and state money doesn’t come from Obama’s stash and does come from our own paychecks and our friend’s and neighbor’s paychecks, I found the 2010 US Census form letter puzzling. Yes, I know that the census is required (but not all forms are completed) and helps allocate federal funds, but this was much more in-your-face and clearly baits the reader with federal funds that they “need” as quoted:

Dear Resident:

About one week from now, you will receive a 2010 Census form in the mail. When you receive your form, please fill it out and mail it in promptly. Your response is important. Results from the 2010 Census will be used to help each community get its fair share of government funds for highways, schools, health facilities, and many other programs you and your neighbors need. Without a complete, accurate census, your community may not receive its fair share. Thank you in advance for your help.

Sincerely, Robert M. Groves
Director, U.S. Census Bureau

Go to for help completing your 2010 Census form when it arrives. [Note: this sentence is repeated in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese and Russian]

On the web it continues to tell about the 2010 census; this section does not appear on the actual form letter:

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Tags: apportionment, Census, census form, federal spending, immigration status
Posted Mar 9th 2010 at 9:51 am in Congress, News, Obama, Politics, federal spending | 86430170 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/sahiller/2010/03/09/us-census-form-letter-uses-fair-share-of-federal-money-as-bait/US+Census+Form+Letter+Promises+%27Fair+Share%27+of+Federal+Money2010-03-09+17%3A51%3A41SusanAnne+++Hiller

Reason.tv: 3 Reasons Obama’s High-Speed Rail Will Go Nowhere Fast

Supertrain 2010 = Supertrain 1979!

President Barack Obama has pledged $8 billion in tax dollars to build a national network of high-speed rail—trains that can carry passengers at speeds in excess of 150 MPH.

But the Supertrain fantasy was a mistake back in the 1970s, when it gave rise to one of the most expensive—and rotten—TV shows in history. And it’s just as much of a wreck in the 21st century for at least three reasons:

1. The lowball costs. CNN estimates that delivering on the plan could cost well over $500 billion and take decades to build, all while failing to cover much of the country at all. Internationally, only two high-speed rail lines have recouped their capital costs and all depend on huge subsidies to stay in operation.

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Tags: Amtrak, Barack Obama, federal spending, high speed rail, Joe Biden
Posted Mar 4th 2010 at 3:25 pm in Obama, Politics, Technology, federal spending | 84190109 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/ngillespie/2010/03/04/reason-tv-3-reasons-obamas-high-speed-rail-will-go-nowhere-fast/Reason.tv%3A+3+Reasons+Obama%27s+High-Speed+Rail+Will+Go+Nowhere+Fast2010-03-04+23%3A25%3A09Nick+Gillespie

New Government Programs Always Cost More Than Predicted

It’s time to stop playing along with this ridiculous game called, “The government says the health care bill will cost…” It’s always wrong. And it’s always wrong by underestimating the cost. Why don’t the Republicans point this out? (Probably because they’ve been big government spenders, too.)

Look back at when Medicare was first created:

At its start, in 1966, Medicare cost $3 billion. The House Ways and Means Committee estimated that Medicare would cost only about $ 12 billion by 1990 (a figure that included an allowance for inflation). This was a supposedly “conservative” estimate. But in 1990 Medicare actually cost $107 billion.

In 2007, total Medicare spending was $431 billion! That isn’t even close to the costs predicted in 1965. Why do we act like the numbers coming out of Congress and the CBO have any basis in reality?

The predictions for Medicaid were just as wrong:

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Tags: Barack Obama, Big Government, federal spending, government health care, health care reform
Posted Mar 2nd 2010 at 12:21 pm in Congress, Healthcare, Political Humor, Uncategorized, federal spending | 82574109 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/gknapp/2010/03/02/new-government-programs-always-cost-more-than-predicted/New+Government+Programs+Always+Cost+More+Than+Predicted2010-03-02+20%3A21%3A15Greg+Knapp

Pork Report, March 2, 2010: Beer Museum Edition

Spending Under the Influence: National Brewery Museum receives a $449,574 grant from the Federal Highway Administration

The Secretary of Transportation says “it’s fun playing Santa Claus to states and cities around the nation”

…as the Department of Transportation furloughs federal bridge and road inspectors

Washington politicians and bureaucrats enjoy ‘lavish’ government pensions; Federal employees can draw on their pension beginning at age 50 and can get as much as 80 percent of their final salary

National Institutes of Health spends $3.9 million to develop ‘Avatar’ sex-ed video game for kids

National Science Foundation pays to produce a “free” CD for road trips on a highway in California

Director of Louisiana housing agency charged taxpayers for personal expenses; Unallowable charges included a $150 bill at hair salon, items from a sporting goods store and Wal-Mart, and telephone and electric bills

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Tags: early retirement, Fannie Mae, Federal Highway Administration, federal spending, government waste
Posted Mar 2nd 2010 at 11:09 am in Pork Report | 8309840 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/porkreport/2010/03/02/pork-report-march-2-2010-beer-museum-edition/Pork+Report%2C+March+2%2C+2010%3A+Beer+Museum+Edition2010-03-02+19%3A09%3A31The+Pork+Report

Fiscal Responsibility Lasted Two Weeks In Senate

Two weeks ago the U.S. Senate passed new rules that would require new spending to be offset somewhere else in the budget, the so-called paygo rule. They did this because Democrats and Obama got tired of being called big spending socialists and wanted the veneer of fiscal responsibility with which to cloak themselves. It lasted two weeks before the Senate broke its own new Obama-sponsored rule and went headlong for just another big spending program with its supposed jobs bill.

On February 13 President Obama celebrated the paygo rule as a “common sense” rule that would “rein in spending.” Obama then said that the new rule would assure that Congress would be forced to “pay for what it spends, just like everybody else.”

It all sounds so grand. But it wasn’t to last. Maybe that’s why the Senate couldn’t abide by the rule, it was too much “common sense” for them to put up with?

Two weeks ago the Senate Republicans stood against the President’s “common sense” saying that the paygo rule didn’t do a thing to dampen spending but only gave Congress the dispensation to raise more taxes in order to fund the spending levels desired. All 40 Republican Senators voted against the paygo rule two weeks ago, though this week six voted to suspend the paygo rule for the jobs bill, newly seated Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts being one of them.

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Tags: deficit spending, federal spending, jobs bill, paygo, scott brown
Posted Feb 26th 2010 at 10:37 am in Congress, Economics, News, Obama, Politics, federal spending | 8014667 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/wthuston/2010/02/26/fiscal-responsibility-lasted-two-weeks-in-senate/Fiscal+Responsibility+Lasted+Two+Weeks+In+Senate2010-02-26+18%3A37%3A05Warner+Todd++Huston

Obamacare Taxing Your Savings and Investments in the Name of Fairness

Congress can raise taxes because it can persuade a sizable fraction of the populace that somebody else will pay.

– Milton Friedman

How dare you save and invest your hard earned money while other people waste it can’t afford to. It’s just not fair that you’re making “unearned” income and we need to take more of that from you to pay for our big government programs.

Terrence Jeffrey has the details from Obamascare 2.0:

“Under current law, workers who earn a salary pay a flat tax of 1.45 percent of their wages to support the Medicare Hospital Insurance (HI) trust fund, but those who have substantial unearned income do not, raising issues of fairness,” says the summary.

Fairness?! The Redistributor in Chief wants to go there? Seriously?

Right now, the people who earn very little, or nothing, get way more back in Medicare than they’ve ever paid in and there is no income cap on the Medicare tax. The rich are already paying more than their “fair share.” In addition the money being used to make unearned income has already been taxed at least once.

The Wall Street Journal points out the unprecedented nature of the taxes and how anti-growth it is:

This new ObamaCare bargain would for the first time apply the 2.9% Medicare payroll tax to “interest, dividends, annuities, royalties and rents,” so-called passive income that we are told includes capital gains, though the latter wasn’t explicitly mentioned in the proposal. This antigrowth investment tax would apply to singles earning more than $200,000 and joint filers over $250,000 and comes on top of the Senate’s 0.9-percentage-point increase in the payroll tax, which would bring the combined employee-employer share to 3.8%

Hey, wait a second, didn’t Obama say he wouldn’t raise any tax on families making less than $250k/year?

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Tags: Barack Obama, Big Government, federal spending, health care, health care reform
Posted Feb 25th 2010 at 8:27 am in Healthcare, Obama, Political Humor, Politics, Uncategorized, federal spending | 7992297 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/gknapp/2010/02/25/obamacare-taxing-your-savings-and-investments-in-the-name-of-fairness/Obamacare+Taxing+Your+Savings+and+Investments+in+the+Name+of+Fairness2010-02-25+16%3A27%3A01Greg+Knapp

But Is Our Republicans Learning?

Economist John Tamny has a piece in Forbes, “The Paradox Of A ‘Giving’ Government”, detailing the new, stepped-up emphasis by business on getting cozy with Washington, and how and why it pays off. In it is a very disturbing example of why we should expect at best weak and highly dispiriting pushback from Republicans when Obama finally gets around to following through on his telegraphed Plan B for the “global warming” agenda, “green jobs”.

“Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., presently a darling among Republicans for his pro-growth policies, has long made known his dislike of the 2009 Obama stimulus plan as a ‘wasteful spending spree.’ Nice rhetoric for sure–and as it turns out not very pure. In October 2009 the congressman wrote a letter to Labor Secretary Hilda Solis in favor of a grant application in his district, which, according to Ryan, would ‘place 1,000 workers in green jobs.’”

That’s pretty stomach-turning, when you consider the source. The government can give us nothing that it has not taken from us. The government cannot give your favored constituencies anything it has not taken away from others. The politics of envy have never been as strong in the United States as in Europe – which fact has given us a chance over the decades, but it appears to be a dwindling chance.

And no one who attended any appreciable part of CPAC this past weekend has any time for the philosophy that these are just the accommodations that one must make to stay here and do good work.

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Tags: CPAC, exporting jobs, federal grant, federal spending, green jobs
Posted Feb 22nd 2010 at 11:07 am in Congress, Economics, News, Obama, Politics, Tea Party | 7848271 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/chorner/2010/02/22/but-is-our-republicans-learning/But+Is+Our+Republicans+Learning%3F2010-02-22+19%3A07%3A32Christopher+C.+Horner

Needed: An English-Democratic Party Dictionary?

This past week in Washington, DC has seen the GOP actively engaged in discussions and strategizing about taking back the House of Representatives and taking back the Senate.  But before the GOP, Tea Party, or anyone else, can take back the House or Senate, they will face a more difficult and important battle–taking back our language.

Democrats have made an art form of mis-speak, consistently showing only a passing familiarity with good, old Merriam-Webster.  Think Kafka and Orwell, where words are elastic, and plain-speaking is all but abandoned.

Understanding what President Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are saying is difficult; for, though the language may seem to be English, in reality, they speak a different language, the language of the Democrats in DC.  To understand exactly what they are saying, Americans need an “English –Democratic Party Dictionary.   Here is a sampler of some of the most important words and phrases that cause confusion:

• INVESTMENT: President Obama and Speaker Pelosi frequently talk about the need for “investments”. For example, ” President Obama recently identified a need to invest in American infrastructure (and education)  What Mr. Obama and Nancy Pelosi really seem to mean when they talk about “investments” is that government needs to spend more.  Democrats  have learned from extensive polling that disguising calls for more government spending, and even greater national debt, are more palatable (to those that have not yet figured out the scam) if,  they talk about spending as  “investments”.  As most Americans know, making an investment  implies a return worthy of the risk.  Investors always want their money back and a profit to boot.  Fat chance of that!  According to the Democrat-version, “investments” are just spending by another name.  There will never be a return, and taxpayers putting their money are risk will never get their funds back, nor is there any chance of a decent return.

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Tags: Barack Obama, Congress, critical infrastructure, entitlements, federal spending
Posted Feb 22nd 2010 at 8:57 am in Congress, Culture, Earmarks, Healthcare, Obama, Politics, Tea Party, Uncategorized, federal spending | 7851490 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/ldoan/2010/02/22/needed-an-english-democratic-party-dictionary/Needed%3A+An+English-Democratic+Party+Dictionary%3F2010-02-22+16%3A57%3A37Lurita+Doan

Happy Stimulus Day! One Year’s Worth of Waste

No man’s life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session.

– Mark Twain

The Obama peeps are actually trying to celebrate the one year anniversary of the $862 billion “drive us into perpetual debt” bill. Biden repeatedly told an audience in Saginaw, MI -unemployment 14% – that the “stimulus” is working.

Thanks, Joe! Hey, maybe that’s the next great achievement of The One. Back in the real world people are finally starting to notice that all this debt we’re racking up could lead to inflation, kill your savings and wages, and make it harder for you and businesses to borrow money.

Over the past year alone, the amount the U.S. government owes its lenders has grown to more than half the country’s entire economic output, or gross domestic product.

Even more alarming, experts say, is that those figures will climb to an unprecedented 200 percent of GDP by 2038 without a dramatic shift in course.

“Within 12 years&the largest item in the federal budget will be interest payments on the national debt,” said former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker. “[They are] payments for which we get nothing.”

There’s no getting around the fact that eventually we have to pay this back and the interest payments are killing us.

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Tags: Barack Obama, Big Government, federal spending, Obama, stimulus
Posted Feb 17th 2010 at 11:19 am in Economics, Obama, Political Humor, federal spending | 7664262 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/gknapp/2010/02/17/happy-stimulus-day-one-years-worth-of-waste/Happy+Stimulus+Day%21+One+Year%27s+Worth+of+Waste2010-02-17+19%3A19%3A17Greg+Knapp

Pork Report, February 9, 2010: Neon Edition

More than three-quarters of the $2 billion in federal stimulus funds intended to create green-energy jobs in the U.S. has gone to foreign-owned companies

Despite millions in federal tax credits, wind-equipment manufacturers cut thousands of jobs in the U.S. last year

Las Vegas receives $4.5 million federal grant to build the neon museum

Alaska Senators fight to restore funding for earmark that both President Bush and Obama have tried to eliminate

New Jersey Senator prodded the Federal Reserve to aid a struggling bank whose chairman and vice chairman were big campaign contributors

Media critics agree the U.S. Census Bureau’s $2.5 million Super Bowl ad was one of the worst

$501,940 of federal stimulus aid will help finance an animal shelter, which will include pet bathing areas and a kitten nursery

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Tags: bank bailout, census ad, Earmarks, FDIC, federal deficit
Posted Feb 9th 2010 at 4:06 pm in Pork Report | 7299031 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/porkreport/2010/02/09/pork-report-february-9-2010-neon-edition/Pork+Report%2C+February+9%2C+2010%3A+Neon+Edition2010-02-10+00%3A06%3A04The+Pork+Report

Political Alchemy, Part I: Turning Spending Increases into Tax Cuts

Politicians in Washington have come up with something far more impressive than turning lead into gold or water into wine. Using self-serving budget rules, they can increase the burden of government spending and say they are cutting taxes instead.

This bit of legerdemain is made possible, thanks to the convolutions of the personal income tax, by adopting or expanding refundable tax credits. But in this case, “refundable” does not mean the government is returning money to taxpayers. Instead, it means that money is being redistributed to people who do not earn enough to be subject to the income tax.

This is hardly a trivial issue. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the amount of income redistribution being laundered through the tax code is now so large that the bottom 40 percent of the population has a negative “effective” income tax rate. In simple terms (though perhaps with profound political implications), the income tax is a revenue generator for a big share of the population.

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Tags: 1040, Big Government, EITC, federal spending, Flat Tax
Posted Feb 8th 2010 at 12:57 pm in Congress, Economics, Flat Tax, News, Obama, Politics, Tax Reform, Uncategorized, federal spending | 7025055 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/dmitchell/2010/02/08/political-alchemy-part-i-turning-spending-increases-into-tax-cuts/Political+Alchemy%2C+Part+I%3A+Turning+Spending+Increases+into+Tax+Cuts2010-02-08+20%3A57%3A34Dan+Mitchell

Wednesday Open Thread: Spending Edition

From the fine folks at CATO Institute comes this chart, detailing the allocation of federal spending:

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Tags: debt interest, entitlement spending, federal spending, GDP
Posted Feb 3rd 2010 at 3:08 am in Open Threads | 6906276 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2010/02/03/wednesday-open-thread-spending-edition/Wednesday+Open+Thread%3A+Spending+Edition2010-02-03+11%3A08%3A38Publius

Reason.tv: Obama’s Doublethink Doubletalk (SOTU Remix)

George Orwell defined doublethink as “the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.

When it comes to war, spending, and more, President Barack Obama’s 2010 State of the Union address showed that doublethink is alive and well in Washington, D.C.

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Tags: bank bailout, Barack Obama, federal budget deficit, federal spending, SOTU address
Posted Feb 2nd 2010 at 10:21 am in Congress, Defense, Economics, Education, Obama, federal spending | 6855457 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/ngillespie/2010/02/02/reason-tv-obamas-doublethink-doubletalk-sotu-remix/Reason.tv%3A+Obama%27s+Doublethink+Doubletalk+%28SOTU+Remix%292010-02-02+18%3A21%3A56Nick+Gillespie

There Is some Budget Good News, but It Is Actually Really Bad News

The  Office of Management and Budget has released the President’s FY2011 budget and the Congressional Budget Office has released its semi-annual Budget and Economic Outlook. Much of the coverage of these documents has focused on deficit numbers. This is not a trivial concern, particularly since the Bush-Obama policies of bigger government have dramatically boosted red ink.

But the most important numbers in the budget documents are the estimates of what is happening to government spending. The good news is that burden of government spending is projected to decline over the next few years from about 25 percent of GDP to less than 23 percent of GDP.

That’s the good news.

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Tags: Big Government, budget, Bush, debt, Deficit
Posted Feb 1st 2010 at 10:11 am in Economics, Obama, Politics, federal spending | 6809869 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/dmitchell/2010/02/01/there-is-some-budget-good-news-but-it-is-actually-really-bad-news/There+Is+some+Budget+Good+News%2C+but+It+Is+Actually+Really+Bad+News2010-02-01+18%3A11%3A42Dan+Mitchell

We Need a Real Spending Freeze and Tax Cuts

Don’t you hate it when you go to a 50% off sale and then realize the store marked up all the prices in order to offer the big savings? Welcome to President Barack Obama’s spending freeze.

It’s hard to keep up with the shocking numbers under Obama. Federal spending was up 18% in his first year and the deficit was $1.4 trillion, almost three times greater than it was the previous year. That’s 9.9% of 2009’s GDP, more than three times the post World War II average. (Sorry, Barry, but you can’t blame it all on Bush. That budget was done under a Democrat House and Senate and signed by you. ) Depending on whose numbers you believe federal nondefense discretionary spending will increase another 7-10% for 2010.

The Congressional Budget Office says we’ll run at least another $1.35 trillion deficit. The average deficit for 2011-2020 will be around $600 billion per year. Even in Washington that’s a lot of money.

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Tags: Barack Obama, Big Government, federal spending
Posted Feb 1st 2010 at 8:37 am in Congress, Obama, Political Humor, Politics, Tax Reform, federal spending | 6801084 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/gknapp/2010/02/01/we-need-a-real-spending-freeze-and-tax-cuts/We+Need+a+Real+Spending+Freeze+and+Tax+Cuts+2010-02-01+16%3A37%3A05Greg+Knapp