March 5, 2012 7:51AM 

# Endless Spending 

By [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/people/david-boaz) 

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Urging Congress to spend more money on infrastucture, Rep. John Sarbanes (Big Government-Maryland) [says](http://wamu.org/news/12/03/04/us_house_set_to_vote_on_jobs_act), “You’ve got to kind of get past this mentality that you can’t spend any money at all.”

Right. Because it’s that kind of attitude that has given us a federal budget of $3.8 trillion, up more than 100 percent in a decade, and spending at [permanently higher levels](https://www.cato.org/obamas-budget-this-isnt-built-to-last/) of GDP:

![Media Name: 201202_blog_dehaven131.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/wp-content/uploads/201202_blog_dehaven131.jpg?itok=sJrVsWDz) 

##### Related Tags 

[General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy) 

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