Our friends at the Heritage Foundation just released a fantastic report entitled "Federal Spending by the Numbers." The 2010 edition shows spending and deficits continuing to grow at an unprecedented pace. Washington will spend $30,543 per household in 2010 - $5,000 per household more than just two years ago. While much of this spending is a result of the recession, Heritage points out that President Obama has replaced temporary spending with new, permanent programs - thereby leading Washington to spend $36,000 per household by 2020. Furthermore, they explain the potential for our debt to double within the next decade if Congress and the Administration fail to restore fiscal responsibility.
Using CBO/OMB data, you will be able to see:
- A breakdown of total tax & spending trends over the past 20 years;
- The changing composition of federal spending over the past 50 years;
- A complete breakdown of the entire federal budget by spending program, with growth trends;
- Discretionary spending trends covering 20 years;
- Entitlement spending trends;
- Long-term entitlement projections through 2050;
- Long-term trends in antipoverty, education, veterans, Medicare spending;
- Earmark trends going back to 1990;
- The President's budget projections through 2020;
- Projections of long-term net interest costs through 2020;
- A breakdown diagnosing the cause of the long-term budget deficits;
- 3 pages of examples of government waste.
Check it out! It's a very handy reference guide to the federal budget and spending/deficit trends.