Search This Blog

Thursday, September 11, 2008

An Ugly Reminder on Federal Spending

The current fiscal year comes to a close at the end of this month. The Congressional Budget Office’s latest “Monthly Budget Review” was published on September 5. It provides the budget basics through the first 11 months of FY2008.

What does it tell us about federal government expenditures? Basically, the spending juggernaut relentlessly marches on.

Specifically, when adjusted for weekdays and holidays, federal outlays were up by 8 percent compared to the same period last year. And spending was up in all major categories: Defense/military by 10.9 percent; Social Security benefits by 5.5 percent; Medicare by 4.7 percent; Medicaid by 4.8 percent; net interest on debt by 3.4 percent; and other programs and activities by 11.4 percent.

When will someone slay the federal spending monster that sucks so many resources away from the private sector?

Raymond J. Keating
Chief Economist
Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council

No comments: