Say whatever you want about the opinions expressed in the rest of this Bloomberg article, some of the figures about the spending of our government and our current budget shortfalls knocked the wind out of me.  Here are the highlights:

Or try this. The whole world’s military spending in 2006 totaled a little less than $1.2 trillion. So next year’s U.S. deficit [$1.7 trillion projected] could cover that and still have $500 billion left over for building bridges.

And…

Perhaps the most disturbing comparison is this one: When President George W. Bush was first elected, total federal government spending was about $1.7 trillion. In other words, the difference between federal outlays and federal revenue this year will be bigger than the entire government was as recently as 2000.

Another interesting thing the article points out regarding our governmental spending is that revenue has increased from approximately $2 trillion to projected $2.4 trillion next year, while spending has increased around %95.  In 2000, the government spent around $1.8 trillion and it is projected to spend around $3.5 trillion.

A couple of thoughts on that last tidbit.  First, almost all of that increase in spending happened under a Republican government.  So much for small government conservative leadership.  Second, it really gives one pause when considering whether the new government should be teeing up another huge spending bill and whether the bill is going to really accomplish anything.  Obviously, money spent on the wrong things isn’t going to help the economy any, and I think we’ve proven our inability to spend on the right things over the last eight years.  Despite the view of many that Obama is going to make it all better, he can’t turn the Titanic himself.

http://bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=aGgZR28hHCPk&refer=columnist_hassett