Taxpayers Lose Interest
Published in The Tennessean , Sunday, December 23, 2012 and at FORBES with archives . by Richard J. Grant November 2012 was an expensive month for Americans in more ways than one. In simple fiscal terms, the U.S. government spent $333.8 billion last month. Half of that was borrowed (government receipts were only $161.7 billion), but November was not an average month. Nevertheless, it was consistent with the bias toward rising government outlays. The 2012 fiscal year, which ended in September, ran up a deficit of just over $1 trillion. That was not quite a third of the $3.5 trillion that the federal government spent last year. The 2011 fiscal year had a proportionately higher deficit and, at just over $3.6 trillion, the highest level of spending in history. When adjusted for inflation, it roughly ties 2009 for the highest level of real spending. The extraordinary 18-percent leap in government spending during 2009 was due in part to the addition of new “stimulus” funding as we