An Ugly Truth and a Dose of Reality
Over the next few weeks, Americans—if paying attention—will hear all kinds of projections and baselines about spending, deficits, and the national debt. The ugly truth is that spending will continue to rise.
“In 1930, prior to President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, federal outlays were 3.5% of GDP, while state and local expenditures were 9.1%. That was the foundational premise of America and the 10th Amendment—a limited federal government with most governing occurring close to the governed at the state and local level. That vision of limited federal government is now unattainable, but returning to a reasonable pre-pandemic level of spending is doable,” wrote Senator Ron Johnson in The Wall Street Journal.