Daniel Mitchell at the Cato Institute has proposed a “golden fiscal rule:” ensure that government spending, over time, grows more slowly than the private economy. This is an idea that should command support from fiscal conservatives on both sides of the aisle, not just libertarians.
Mr. Mitchell has done a more than adequate job demonstrating that “nations that imposed genuine spending restraint for multiyear periods reaped big benefits.” But we also know that growth in federal health spending continues to outstrip growth in the economy. As I have stated repeatedly in other posts, ObamaCare has not eliminated the nation’s long term spending problem. My purpose in this post is to show how dramatically non-health spending (including defense) if we were to adopt the golden fiscal rule.
