Whenever you try to cut government programs, or in most cases simply keep spending increases to a minimum, you hear lots of wailing and moaning. Francis Porretto asks that we keep one thing in mind.

The United States racked up about $10.5 trillion in Gross Domestic Product in 2003. The federal government will spend about $2.4 trillion -- nearly one-fourth of GDP -- in 2004. Our 88,000 state and local governments will spend about $1.6 trillion in the same period. So roughly forty percent of everything Americans produce is being seized by some level of government.