Over at the blog of Reason Magazine, Editor Nick Gillespie has posted a list of how much each two-term president increased spending going back forty years. Specifically, the list measures increases in discretionary spending over five successive budgets, adjusted for inflation.
Here are the numbers …
LBJ: 25.2%
Nixon: -16.5%
Reagan: 11.9%
Clinton: -8.2%
Bush: 35.2%
Now, clearly, this exercise means different things to Libertarians like the folks at Reason than it might to readers of this website.
But I think this only represents half the picture. And probably not the more important half.
There are enduring disagreements between the moderate right and moderate left in this country over the ideal size and scope of the federal government. But the truth is that the country can do fine with relatively small government or relatively large government so long as things don’t get too out of hand in either direction. What it can’t withstand for very long is a radical and growing disjuncture between spending and revenue, money out and money in.
That is the problem we face today. And that’s why we’re probably in for a long ten years as all of this hits the fan.
