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The system is broken ...

Have you ever taken the time to look at the growth rate in federal spending for the last 40 years or so?

If so, then this information will be old hat. But if not, this should be of great interest. By looking at the historical figures for the last forty years, you can see if there is a obvious trend over this time period. If there is then this trend can be projected into the future to give some insight into what will happen if this trend continues.

The chart below shows government spending per taxpayer from 1960 until 2002, roughly 40 years. The dollar amounts shown have been adjusted to year 2000 dollars to eliminate any confusion from inflation. There is little doubt that a trend is obvious. The trend is a fairly steady increase in both federal and State & local government spending.

Since these statistics are "per taxpayer," population growth has also been factored in.

Take a few minutes and look at this chart:

The total tax burden on Americans includes funding for state and local expenditures, and though the trends appear similar, state and local spending combined has grown much faster than federal spending since 1960. Between 1960 and 2002, state and local spending per taxpayer grew by 114 percent, while federal spending per taxpayer grew by 69 percent. As a result, state and local spending increased from 49 percent to 62 percent of the value of federal spending.

In 1960 total government expenditures was about $13,000 per tax payer, today it is over $23,000. That is almost double! If your wife works also, that is over $46,000 for your family!

Forty years is a long time, especially for those who are younger than 40. But is you youngsters that should be giving these statistics the most thought. You and your children are the ones that this trend will affect the most. So let me suggest an educational exercise:

Make  a list of people you know that were raising a family anytime in the 1960's. This would be the people you know that are 50 or older that have families. Should be a reasonable sized list.

Go to each of these people and ask them if they believe that they get twice the benefits from government that they got in the 1960's? I am in this category and my answer is "No." But I do get a zillion types of interference that I did not have in the 1960's, none of which I would give you a plugged nickel for!

Remember these dollars are already adjusted for inflation, so my relationship with government is costing me almost double now from when I started raising a family. I have to work longer every year just to pay the government to interfere more in my life.

Now assume that you have a grandson born this year.  If this trend continues for another 40 years, as he is approaching the age where he is getting close to becoming a grandfather what will the government be doing to you and him? The same trend for another 40 years would produce these figures:

Federal spending per tax payer: $24,881
State & local spending per tax payer: $19,461

That is over $44,000 (in current day dollars) per tax payer. Tilt! System is broken! This is a virtual recipe for chaos. I hope that you see the fallacy of that level of government spending. It is well above the per capita and family income. You can also project the trend of more government interference in your life. I am glad that I will not be around to see that sad spectacle.

If you do not see the fallacy of government spending at these levels then you are wasting your time reading this article. You should be reading about Our Founding Fathers and the principles upon which our country was founded. Government spending at these projected levels will mean the end of American Liberty as espoused by Our Founding Fathers.

There are only three ways for the government to finance this trend;

1) taxes,

2) deficit (borrowing against future generations) or

3) inflation (devaluation of dollar).

None of these benefit your grandson and are even worse for his grandson. All three of these methods have been used by our government (federal, State & local) over the 40 years since 1960. None of the three do you or your grandkids any good.

But going back to that $44,000 per tax payer projection. This is a clear indication that the trend can not continue. This begs the question: What is going to change the trend? Looking at the chart you will see that the various combinations of Republican or Democratic control of the levels of government has very little impact on the overall rate of growth of government at any level.

Since this article was based on 1960 through 2002 data, any projections forward are off to a bad start. The growth of federal spending in fiscal 2003 is one of the largest, if not the largest, in history. Just the national debt as reflected by Treasury bonds has increased close to $500,000,000,000.00. Next year is probably going to be worse. And yes, we getting more government interference in our lives for the increase.

Its your government folks. You are the only thing that can change the trend. If you plan on having grandkids then perhaps you should give this some thought and consideration.

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