This morning, Politico featured an opinion editorial written by Americans for Tax Reform's President Grover Norquist and State Affairs Director Patrick Gleason, discussing the perpetual lateness of Cost of Government Day. 2011 marks the third consecutive year in which COGD has been delayed until mid-August by out-of-control government spending and overregulation. After doubling-down on President Bush's overspending, the Obama administration has presided over the three latest COGDs in the report's history and on the Presiden't current course, Cost of Government Day only goes up. From the article:
The public debate has been focused on deficit and debt reduction. This is understandable — but distracts attention from the total cost of government. That’s why, every year, Americans for Tax Reform Foundation publishes the Cost of Government Day Report, tabulating the number of days that Americans must work that year to pay for the total cost of government.
This year Cost of Government Day arrived Aug. 12 — meaning that the average American toiled 224 days to foot the bill for this year’s total cost of government. Of those 224 days, 103 went toward federal spending, and 44 days for state and local spending. The regulatory burden, coming in at $1.8 trillion, took up an additional 77 days of work.
Though President George W. Bush was no model for spending restraint, before President Barack Obama took office, Cost of Government Day never fell later than July 21.
Click here for the full article.