Chris, I was struck by the fact that federal spending went up by a factor of 20, while general inflation rose by only a factor of about 6.4.* Social Security and Medicare spending went up by a factor of close to 50!
Defense spending went up by a factor of about 10, and keeping in mind that this spending includes war funding, that seems like a relatively stable number. If that war is ever to conclude — wait, stop laughing — given its record thus far, under this administration you would probably still not see those expenditures shrink.
Anyone who thinks that business as usual doesn’t doom the US to a financial collapse ought to have his head examined. Maybe we should move to Norway, where at least they’re up front about their socialism, yet generally thrifty at least as far as government spending goes.
Yeah, I thought it might make more sense to scale the size of the pies relative to their inflation-adjusted totals, but as you note, this figure is so large 1966-2006, that it would make a visual representation impractical.
What strikes me is that almost no one today challenges the underlying assumption that we need a large federal government and thus, budget. How did we ever survive before?
Fortunately, my wife’s family has land, including a town named after them (or the other way ’round) in Norway.