US government spending on World War Two reached a crescendo in 1945 at $107 billion, after which spending reset to a post-war low of $36 billion in 1948.
Within 4 years, spending had doubled to $72 billion, in 1952.
It took more than 14 years for federal spending to double again, sometime between 1966 and 1967, when spending shot up on the Vietnam War and the Great Society programs under President Johnson. Spending in 1966 was $135 billion.
By 1974, just 8 years later, spending had nearly doubled again to $269 billion.
Under Jimmy Carter it took just over 5 years for spending to double again, sometime between 1979 and 1980. Federal spending reached $504 billion in 1979.
By 1987, 8 years later, federal spending had doubled again to $1 trillion under Ronald Reagan.
Federal spending did not double again until sometime between 2001 and 2002. It took more than 14 years to do so going through the Bush 41 and Bill Clinton presidencies to the presidency of Bush 43. Federal outlays reached $1.9 trillion in 2001.
Which brings us down the pike to today, when spending is projected to finish the fiscal year at $3.8 trillion, doubling in the 10 years since 2001.
That's 7 doublings in 63 years, or a doubling of US government spending every 9 years since World War Two.
According to the Rule of 72, a doubling every 9 years implies an interest rate of 8 percent per year.
In other words, federal spending has an effective rate of built-in spending increases at 8 percent per year every year since 1948.
When you consider that real GDP growth from 1930-2000 has been 3.5 percent and only slightly better than half that in the decade just past, our spending is completely out of step with reality.
(data from usgovernmentspending.com)
