Interestingly, after this orgy of spending the US is back to the same level of discretionary spending as 1994 in GDP terms-- 4.0% on defense and 3.8% on non-defense, compared to 4.1% on defense and 3.7% on non-defense in 1994. That level has held steady since 2003, incidentally, after a big jump in 2002 and 2003, and is lower than all pre-1994 post-WWII levels.
[External Link]
Therefore, a lot of how one views this depends on whether you consider the post-1994 cuts (which were over two-thirds in defense) to be a new baseline that should've been sustainable, or whether one expected a reversion back towards the post war mean. Also, whether one views the spending in an absolute sense or in a rate of increase sense. That it can still be framed as reversing much of the post 1994 gains is of course disheartening.
When I meet liberals with Bush Derangement Syndrome, I now sympathize. I, too, have caught it.
Posted at 2007-10-26 03:24:29 [PermaLink]