Blog: Did you see what I saw in the paper today?

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Did you see what I saw in the paper today?

Articles across the country pointed out that in his run for president, Bernie Sanders has proposed program expansions that in total would add at least $18 trillion in additional federal spending over the next ten years.

Talk about the ways in which politics matter?! One look around the world has always reinforced this simple notion, but here is a chance to see it right here at home. This would be the largest peacetime expansion of government in modern American history. To pay for the program, he's specified tax increases that could bring in up to $6.5 trillion over the same ten years. I applaud his intellectual honesty in at least pointing to where he would raise taxes to pay for the expansion, but, as a conservative, I don't think the government expansion or the increased taxes to pay for it are good ideas.

To fry your brain just a bit, but to put these numbers in better perspective, this year the federal government will spend about $3.68 trillion. If no changes are made, that amount would rise to over $6 trillion in 2025, which totals $48.6 trillion in spending over the next 10 years. In effect, Bernie Sander's proposal would raise the total amount spent by the Federal government over the next 10 years to about $67 trillion -- about a one-third increase. Do you want your federal government to grow by yet another one third over the next ten years?!

These are big numbers, so let's look at it another way. The total amount of goods and services produced each year is known as the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Right now, the Federal government spends just over 20% of the GDP on its programs. When you add in all the spending on programs at the state and local level, that percent rises to over 41. The rest of the money can be used by people for the things they need, like a home, food, cars, and clothing.

With Sen. Sanders' proposals, the Federal government would use up over 30% of GDP and all government spending would grow to consume over 50%. Having governments spend over half of your money each day is indeed a bold proposal. But in my view…not a good one.

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