Federal Spending by Category

This graph (Via Brad DeLong) illustrates the growth in federal spending since 1975. It breaks spending as a percent of GDP into 3 categories so that one can see the sources of spending growth. It is apparent that growth in defense spending and healthcare have been the source of federal spending growth. The green line shows federal spending ex defense and healthcare. There has been little growth in this line. There was a small spike due to the stimulus but that is one of the messages from the graph. Almost half of the stimulus was from tax cuts. There was very little stimulus spending. The idea that out of control government spending on the stimulus is the cause of our deficits is simply wrong. The GOP, with lots of help from its propaganda machine has sold the public a bill of goods and this administration has helped them out by agreeing with them that federal spending must be frozen. Its hard to understand why smart people a so bad at defending themselves from the propaganda machine.