But the numbers say Federal non-defense spending is robust, even granting the Obama budget proposal. In 1991 it was 15.1% of GDP, a peak after some hits during the Reagan administration (roughly 3% of GDP, which is big in this context). Bush I nearly restored it to pre-Reagan levels. Clinton took it down to as low as 13.6. Bush II brought it back to 15.3, nearly the post-WWII peak. The projected level after the current spike to 22.9% is 16.4. It is fair to object that some of this growth reflects ever-growing health care costs, but it's still public $$.
The BHO policies suck on many levels and could surely worsen, but it is an exaggeration to say the non-defense public sector is being strangled.
>
> But it's worse with every cycle. We're ever closer to Norquist's dream of
> shrinking government until you can drown it in a bathtub, excepting defense
> of course.
>
> I am by no means objective about what will happen in the near future because
> I have a daughter who is a decade plus one year old. She has dual EU/US
> citizenship and with each passing day I think more often of encouraging her
> to pack her bags and leave as soon as she's out of high school. I hadn't
> before but I am also now thinking of joining her.
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>