At Cafe Hayek, they cite figures to show that Krugman is, indeed, blowing smoke to disguise that government really is spending a lot. See http://cafehayek.com/2

At Cafe Hayek, they cite figures to show that Krugman is, indeed, blowing smoke to disguise that government really is spending a lot. See http://cafehayek.com/2010/10/hey-big-spender.html http://cafehayek.com/2010/10/hey-big-spender.html Not so. Inflation-adjusted spending at the federal level rose 29 percent between 2007 and 2009. The White House Office of Management & Budget estimates that this spending will rise another six percent in 2010 and three percent in 2011 -- meaning that, since 2007, Uncle Sam's spending is on course to rise by nearly 40 percent over the course of a mere four years. He goes on to quote a correspondent's email: Governments at all levels spent 4.1 trillion in 2006, 4.4 trillion in 2007 (when this recession began), 4.7 trillion in 2008, 5.0 trillion in 2009, and were on track to spend 5.2 trillion in 2010. This equates to 27% growth over a period in which we’ve had 8% inflation. He also links to a WSJ article (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703358504575544351734226956.html http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870335850457554... ) which I'll quote briefly: Spending rolled in for the year that ended September 30 at $3.45 trillion, second only to 2009's $3.52 trillion in the record books. But don't think this means Washington was relatively less spendthrift. CBO reports that the modest overall spending decline results from three one-time events. The costs of TARP declined by $262 billion from 2009 as banks repaid their bailout cash, payments to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were $51 billion lower (though still a $40 billion net loser for the taxpayer), and deposit insurance payments fell by $55 billion year over year. "Excluding those three programs, spending rose by about 9 percent in 2010, somewhat faster than in recent years," CBO says. Somewhat faster. You've got to laugh, or cry, when a 9% annual increase qualifies as only "somewhat faster" than normal. ...The 21.4% federal spending increase in two years ought to put to rest any debate about the nature of America's fiscal problem.