Since
midterm elections are fast approaching -- and since an alarming number of "conservative" voters have ridiculously short memories -- I thought I'd draw their attention to the following, so that they don't fall for the same
Republican snake-oil all over again:
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http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-04-02-federal-spending_x.htmGrowth in federal spending uncheckedby Richard Wolf
USA TODAY
4/3/2006
WASHINGTON — Federal spending is outstripping economic growth at a rate unseen in more than half a century, provoking some conservatives to complain that government under Republican control has gotten too big.
The federal government is currently spending 20.8 cents of every $1 the economy generates, up from 18.5 cents in 2001, White House budget documents show. That's the most rapid growth during one administration since Franklin Roosevelt.
RELATED:
How federal spending has climbed since 2001There are no signs that the trend is about to turn around. The House Budget Committee last week rejected a proposal that would require spending hikes to be offset by cuts in other spending or by tax increases.
This week, the House is scheduled to debate the $2.8 trillion budget for 2007, which projects an additional $3 trillion of debt in the next five years.
The Sept. 11 attacks, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Gulf Coast hurricanes account for only part of the increased spending.
Other factors: the biggest military buildup in decades, domestic spending, and the rise of benefits for the elderly, poor and disabled.
"You take anything, and we've grown it big," says Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a leading critic of the spending spurt. "When you're in control of the presidency and both houses of Congress, there's just no stop on it. There's no brake."
Examples:
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http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3750The Grand Old Spending Party: How Republicans Became Big Spendersby Stephen Slivinski
Cato Institute
May 3, 2005
President Bush has presided over the largest overall increase in inflation-adjusted federal spending since Lyndon B. Johnson. Even after excluding spending on defense and homeland security, Bush is still the biggest-spending president in 30 years. His 2006 budget doesn’t cut enough spending to change his place in history, either.
Total government spending grew by 33 percent during Bush’s first term. The federal budget as a share of the economy grew from 18.5 percent of GDP on Clinton’s last day in office to 20.3 percent by the end of Bush’s first term.
Stephen Slivinski is director of budget studies at the Cato Institute.
The Republican Congress has enthusiastically assisted the budget bloat. Inflation-adjusted spending on the combined budgets of the 101 largest programs they vowed to eliminate in 1995 has grown by 27 percent.
The GOP was once effective at controlling nondefense spending. The final nondefense budgets under Clinton were a combined $57 billion smaller than what he proposed from 1996 to 2001. Under Bush, Congress passed budgets that spent a total of $91 billion more than the president requested for domestic programs. Bush signed every one of those bills during his first term. Even if Congress passes Bush’s new budget exactly as proposed, not a single cabinet-level agency will be smaller than when Bush assumed office.
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To all you "conservatives" and right-leaning "libertarians" out there: with the possible exception of
Rand Paul, either vote for your 3rd party or independent candidate of choice this November, or
don't vote at all!(The same, of course, goes for anti-war/anti-police state "liberals" and "progressives.")