Joint Economic Committee Report

I'm out of money, out of hope
It looks like self destruction
Well how much more can we take
With all of this corruption
--Molly Hatchet

Interesting Joint Economic Committee report that discusses federal spending and debt since the country's founding. Several interesting graphs and charts, including this chart on federal spending, revenue, and public debt:

Dan Mitchell isolates the spending piece here:

Table that shows fraction of economic output consumed by government spending:

One thing that should be evident is that it hasn't always been the way it is today. The United States prospered for over one hundred years without reckless borrowing and spending.

The recklessness is a phenomenon of the last 100 years, beginning with the onset of the Progressive movement and establishment of the Federal Reserve.