[Aerroon]

But federal spending has been historically high ever since like the New Deal.

Budget-to-GDP ratio in the US is close to 40%. (On that note, you should really consider federal + state combined rather than just federal.)

In early 1900s this same ratio was around 5-10%.

It has been increasing pretty much everywhere during the 20th century. It has made me wonder whether much of the prosperity we've seen and felt might not be a result of this ever-increasing percentage. Essentially we're spending more and more and that makes it feel like we're progressing faster than we are. Eventually it's going to have to stop though and I dread what happens when we do.

[wat10000]

The New Deal was 90+ years ago. At some point it stops being abnormally high and becomes just how things are done.

I don't see why we'd eventually have to stop this level of spending. The debt is unsustainable, but that's a policy choice to keep taxes too low for the level of spending we've chosen.

[themafia]

We nearly _doubled_ the budget during COVID. The differences are obvious:

https://www.cbo.gov/publication/59946