Cost of Government Day

Every year, Americans for Tax Reform Foundation publishes its Cost of Government Day report, which calculates the day on the calendar year until which the average American must work to pay for the full costs of government spending and regulation. Highlights of the report are as follows:

- This year, Cost of Government Day fell on August 12, meaning Americans labored a full 224 days into the year to pay for local, state and federal government spending and regulations.

- Americans have lost 29 days of the calendar year thanks to Obama's overspending and regulatory zeal -- 2011 marks the third straight year Cost of Government Day has fallen in August. Prior to the Obama administration, it had never fallen later than July 21.

- The effects of the bailouts and failed stimulus plan are still being felt by Americans, who must work a full 103 days to pay for the costs of federal spending.

- Americans spend 44 days working to pay off state and local government spending.

- Americans are forced to labor 77 days to pay for total federal regulations, a workload that will increase exponentially with the implementation of the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory bill and Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

The report also measures varying government burdens in each state to calculate their respective state Cost of Government Day. As in past years, taxpayers in Connecticut must work the latest, laboring all the way until September 10 to pay off the full costs of government. Taxpayers in Mississippi worked the shortest amount of time to pay off their burden off government, laboring until July 19.

Source: "2011 Cost of Government Day: August 12," Americans for Tax Reform, August 12, 2011.

For text:
http://www.atr.org/cost-government-august-a6400

For study:
http://www.costofgovernmentday.com/

Where we stand

The answers are fairly straight forward....but they go against an elite ruling political class' dogma...and thus we shall struggle on our never-ending slide to mediocrity...less freedom, less liberty and less economic success - more spending, more debt and more government intervention.

July 31, 2011 excerpts from a WSJ article:

'But the principles are the same: Encourage businesses to expand, rather than government; let markets allocate capital, rather than politicians; liberate entrepreneurs by reining in the regulatory state. The Obama malaise wasn't inevitable and needn't continue. It will end when our political class admits that its nostrums have failed and it is time to once again free the creative energies of the American people.'

'Americans already know that economic growth is flagging, but Friday's second quarter GDP report confirms it: The current recovery, already one of the weakest on record, nearly stalled in the first half of 2011. The economy expanded by a wan 1.3% in the quarter, following a revised 0.4% in the first quarter, and another downward revision in last year's final quarter to 2.3%. This means that for nine months the economy has averaged growth of less than 1.5%, which is barely treading water. At this growth rate a single major shock—such as a European meltdown, or a Chinese slowdown—could tip the U.S. back into recession. What meager growth there was came from exports, federal spending and business investment. Inventories grew slowly and businesses are flush with cash, so there's hope for a bounce off the mat in the second half. But when you add this report to the jobless rate of 9.2%, the flat to falling housing market, layoffs at firms like Cisco and Merck, and capital flowing out of the U.S., it all adds up to a growth recession.'