US Federal Spending Out of Control

US Federal Receipts and Outlays in $Billions
Logarithmic scale

employment tracker.xlsx

Many don't seem to realize exactly how out of control federal spending is.  Attempting to say it's not because it isn't that high relative to GDP, etc.  However, what the above chart clearly shows is that once government learns to spend at a new level, it suddenly becomes the new norm.  So the massive spending required to fight wars in Iraq and Afghanistan became a new norm far exceeding levels prior to 2000, but worse that gave way to another new norm when spending grew again after the 2008 crash.  Now that the economy is slightly better, that has given way to rising spending again as 2015 showed a rise from years of flat spending, and 2016 will exceed 2015.

So now that tax revenues are back in line with previous economic peaks in 1999/2000 and 2007, federal spending still far exceeds comparable levels during those time periods and is in fact rapidly diverging from revenues at a time when the economy looks to be peaking.