Interesting but Not Surprising

Kevin Hassett, writing at Tech Central Station, reports on Kerry's budget proposals. The bottom line:

Even with [a] generous accounting, the Kerry spending promises add up to an extraordinary amount of money. Our best estimate is that Kerry's proposals will add up to between $2 trillion and $2.1 trillion over the next ten years. Since the revenue from his tax proposals relative to the current baseline is actually negative, this implies that the Kerry proposal would increase the deficit by perhaps as much as $2.5 trillion over the next ten years.

It's not the greater deficit that matters as much as the greater spending. The real cost of government is measured by the resources it commandeers through spending.