A Case for Divided Government (rate of growth ...fed spending is usually lower w/ divided government

CATO Inst. ^ | May 7, 2003 | William Niskanen

[JSDude1]

For those of you with a partisan bent, I have some bad news:

Our federal government may work better (less badly) when at least one chamber of Congress is controlled by a party other than the party of the president. The general reason for this is that each party has the opportunity to block the most divisive measures proposed by the other party. Other conditions, of course, also affect political outcomes, but the following types of evidence for this hypothesis are too important to ignore:

Point One. The rate of growth of real (inflation-adjusted) federal spending is usually lower with divided government.

The table below presents the annual percentage increase in real federal spending by administration, in each case with the percentage increase in the first year of a new administration attributed to fiscal decisions made in the prior administration.

Administration Years Divided/United Annual % Increase Eisenhower 8 D 0.4 Kennedy/Johnson 8 U 4.8 Nixon/Ford 8 D 2.5 Carter 4 U 3.7 Reagan 8 D 3.3 Bush 4 D 3.4 Clinton 8 D 0.9

[JSDude1]

SHOULD we be pushing this (at least untill the G.O.P. gets their act together {[(and is actually Conservative-majority once again..)]}.. I think; yes..