March 3, 2010
		Graph of the Day for March 3, 2010
"The view of a minimalist federal government during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was likely based on a strict interpretation of the Constitution...  The government expanded in the 1930s for two reasons: First, its source of funds had increased with passage of the Sixteenth Amendment.... The second reason was a national ideological shift toward greater government. This shift was reflected by, and perhaps motivated by, the writings of Karl Marx and Henry George in the mid-1800s and later by women's increased participation in the electoral process."
Thomas A. Garrett et al, in Institutions and Government Growth: A Comparison of the 1890s and the 1930s, St. Louis Federal Reserve review article, 2010.

Source:  Thomas A. Garrett et al, St. Louis Federal Reserve.
Hoven's Index for March 3, 2010
Per capita real (inflation adjusted) annual federal government spending:
From 1792 to 1929:  $125
In 1930:  $250
In 2007:  $9,200 
Federal government spending as % of GDP in 1929:  3%
In 2009:  24%
Federal income taxes (as % of individual income) in 1912:  0%
In 1913:  1% to 7%
In 1932:  4% to 63%
Source:  Thomas A. Garrett et al, St. Louis Federal Reserve.
Graph of the Day Archive.




