2011's Great News For Government Spending

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		Tech Entertainment Wall Street Markets Strategy Sports Lifestyle Politics Europe Video Latest Friday, December 23, 2011 2011's Great News For Government Spending Republicans were swept into office in 2010 with a mandate to eliminate "out of control" spending in Washington DC. And of course the deficit is a salient political issue. But as we learned in the debt ceiling fight, the Super-Committee flop, and the recent payroll tax imbroglio, there just isn't the political will to do any real deficit cutting, whether it be through higher taxes or lower spending. As the Washington Post's Ezra Klein notes, while summarizing Obama's 2011: ...the government did not shut down -- not once -- and the deal Democrats cut to keep it from shutting down ended up being a nothingburger. The $38.5 billion in cuts ended up being more like $20-$25 billion, with less than $400 million falling in 2011. Some people are disgusted by all this, but it's actually a good thing, since the last thing the US economy needs is deficit cutting at a time when the private sector is deleveraging and cutting back. And really, the situation is probably going to repeat itself. If you can't even get a decrease in government spending, and the most anti-deficits year in a long time, when is it going to happen? Expect lots more years like this: Lots of bluster that in the end result in "nothingburgers." Here's a look at quarterly federal government spending through the end of Q3. Sure Q3 is down a hair, but it's obvious which way the trend is still going. Read » Also On Money Game Today: JP MORGAN: Thanks Congress, Now Here's Our Huge Upward Revision To 2012 GDP Growth These 16 Overseas Stock Markets Got Destroyed In 2011 The Difference Between The Chinese And Indian Consumer In 2012 S&P On ECB's Latest Action: 'Still Kicking The Big Old Can Down The Road' Advertisement CHART OF THE DAY: Why The Recovery Was So Awful This Year CHART OF THE DAY: This Is Our Vote For CHART OF THE YEAR CHART OF THE DAY: We'll Need To Build A LOT More Houses Share this: Facebook Twitter Digg Reddit StumbleUpon LinkedIn The email address for your subscription is: ipat39@gmail.com Change Your Email Address | Unsubscribe | Subscribe | Subscribe to the Money Game RSS Feed Business Insider. 257 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10010 Terms of Service | Privacy Policy

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