That well is dry

Over at Reason, in a post titled "It's the spending, stupid" it's shown that - no matter what the government does - tax revenues as a share of the economy is stuck around 18% GDP. By 2020, the CBO estimates that federal spending will reach 25.2% of GDP, which is higher than any time in our history except for World War II.

With huge and endless deficits on the horizon, it's worth considering the current battle over extending unemployment benefits. The Democrats want to bypass their own PAYGO rules and spend $34 billion to help the unemployed; the Republicans want the benefits to be paid for out of unspent stimulus money instead of adding to the deficit.

Is it possible that Congress cannot find $34 billion dollars? That's a pimple on the behind of the stimulus legislation and an atom in the entire federal budget which already on pace to overspend by $1 trillion in just the first nine months of the fiscal year. If Congress can't carve out this small-change from the enormous bloat that already exists, there is literally no hope of ever addressing our long-term deficits once the entitlement tsunami hits.