On taxing and spending

Here (from the Wall Street Journal) is what our federal government spending looks like, as proposed by the president in February (green line) and as modified by him last week (gray line), and as contrasted to the Republican budget proposed by Paul Ryan (orange line). Gross Domestic Product is the sum of all goods and services created by 300 million Americans. Historically, the federal government has spent one dollar out of five--20 percent of GDP. Last year we boosted that to 25 percent of GDP, a level not reached since the Second World War. Mr. Ryan would like to beat that down to the historical average, but the president will have none of it. He thinks it would be neat to spend somewhere between 22.5 and 24 percent of American wealth every year.

In return for this geyser of spending, what have we gained? The unemployment rate is higher now than when Mr. Obama took office. In terms of the Great Depression, we are now at 1935. If madcap spending didn't work for Franklin Roosevelt, it's highly unlikely to work for Barack Obama. Recall that the United States didn't get out of that tax-and-spend ditch until 1940--that is, 2014 in terms of the Great Recession. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford