Your Opinion: Taxes increasing, but what about services?

Dear Editor:

Harry Reid just said he wants to raise taxes another trillion dollars. I recently listened to a TV talking head complain that Obama's policies are not working because Republicans are preventing Obama from spending enough money to fund his programs.

Below is some truth about spending under Obama. All of the following figures are adjusted for inflation; they are in 2013 dollars.  

Average annual federal government spending during Clinton's budgets (fiscal 1994-2001) was $2,364 billion or $8,400 per citizen. Average annual federal spending during Bush's presidency (2002-2009) was $3,048 billion, $10,000 per citizen.

During the first four years of the Obama presidency (2010-2013) federal spending has averaged $3,685 billion, $11,800 per citizen. If, under Obama, per capita spending was reduced to what it was under Clinton we would have a budget surplus in fiscal 2013, instead a trillion dollar deficit is being projected. There would be no need for any tax increases, we could actually start paying down the national debt. 

If you are a member of a family of four do you feel like your family is getting $7,200 per year of better services from the federal government than it did when Bush was president?

The federal government is costing you that much more. Do you feel like your family is getting $13,600 per year of better service than it did when Clinton was president? Where is all this money going? 

The national debt at the start of Clinton's presidency was 66 at the end of his presidency it was only 56 percent of GDP. Even though the national debt increased during the Clinton presidency it decreased as a percent of GDP.

During the Bush presidency the national debt increased from 56 percent of GDP to 85 percent of GDP. During just the first four years of Obama's presidency it has increased from 85 percent of GDP to 106 percent of GDP.

Current levels of federal government spending are insane! The main reason for federal government spending increases is so that politicians can use our tax dollars (actually today they are using borrowed money) to provide us with goodies so that we will re-elect them.  

"When people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic." Benjamin Franklin