March 16, 2017

Chart of the Day: Federal Spending Since the Reagan Era

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Since the federal budget is in the news today, I figured everybody might like to see how much our government has been spending over the years. So here it is. As Republicans like to say, it’s clear that spending is spiraling out of control:

UPDATE: Someone is going to demand total government spending at all levels, so I might as well get ahead of the curve. Here it is:

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We've never been very good at being conservative.

And usually, that serves us well in doing the ambitious, hard-hitting journalism that you turn to Mother Jones for. But it also means we can't afford to come up short when it comes to scratching together the funds it takes to keep our team firing on all cylinders, and the truth is, we finished our budgeting cycle on June 30 about $100,000 short of our online goal.

This is no time to come up short. It's time to fight like hell, as our namesake would tell us to do, for a democracy where minority rule cannot impose an extreme agenda, where facts matter, and where accountability has a chance at the polls and in the press. If you value our reporting and you can right now, please help us dig out of the $100,000 hole we're starting our new budgeting cycle in with an always-needed and always-appreciated donation today.

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