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NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with
power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams

Monday, December 23, 2019

Federal Spending Explodes at Nearly $300,000 Per Household



"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value -- zero."
Voltaire


(Daily Signal)  -  Amid the drama surrounding impeachment, both parties came together on one area of shared support: spending enormous amounts of taxpayer dollars and adding to the $23.1 trillion national debt.

Congress had little time to properly review fiscal 2020 spending bills, which weighed in at more than 2,000 pages of clunky text.

The legislation contained a multitude of flaws, including lobbyist-driven handouts and a private-pension bailout that could open the door for even larger bailouts down the line.

This is a business-as-usual conclusion to an irresponsible decade. The degree to which Washington has been reckless with the nation’s finances is hard to comprehend.

Since 2010, the federal government has spent $293,750 per household.


Marc Antony as Triumvir (43-31 BC)
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The Roman Republic of Marc Antony died 2,000 years ago.  While American paper money becomes more and more worthless, Roman Republic gold coins have held their value to this day.  Maybe our hack politicians could learn a thing or two from Rome on money.

Federal spending started the decade at an artificially high level due to the 2009 
“economic-stimulus” package. There was a slight dip after the stimulus ended, and 
the tea party wave ushered in a brief period of restraint in Congress. Sadly, this flicker 
of responsibility was short-lived.

federal spending totaled $37.6 trillion from 2010 through 2019. Spread across 128 million 
households (per the Census Bureau), that yields $293,750 in spending for every household.

In fiscal 2019, which ended Sept. 30, the federal government doled out $4.45 trillion. 
The full scope of that much money is virtually impossible for the human mind to grasp. 
One way to understand the sheer enormity is by comparing it to the size of state economies.

To match the amount that the federal government spent in fiscal 2019, one would need to 
add the total economic output of Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, 
Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, 
Utah, and Wisconsin.  

We should treat the notion that this level of federal activity is too small with deep skepticism.

Spending per household is up 47% since 2000. The federal government spent $34,700 
per household in 2019, which is serious money no matter what part of the country you live in.

Is nearly $35,000 per household too much spending? To put it in context, we can go back 
to the last time the economy had a surging stock market and unemployment under 4%, the year 2000.

Back then, federal spending was about $2.49 trillion after adjusting for inflation. Divided by the number of households in 2000, the government spent just $23,600 per household in 
today’s dollars.

That means that the spending increase from 2000 to now is a staggering 47% per household, 
even after controlling for inflation. In real terms, the federal government is nearly 
half-again larger than it was less than two decades ago.

The budget would balance today if spending had grown more modestly.

With the federal government growing so quickly, it should come as no surprise that 
this year’s deficit likely will exceed $1 trillion, even if the economy remains strong.
Read More . . . .





1960s Food Prices
But the money printing presses keep going 24-7.


And the endless printing of money goes on and on.

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