More American Exceptionalism: Drowning the Baby in the Bathwater
The OECD has finally updated their national account data with 2011 info for most countries, so I thought I’d update this post from a couple of years ago.
If you’re thinking that the current (overblown) hoo-ra-ra about U.S. government deficits is a result of too much spending, or that U.S. taxes are insanely high and always going up, you might want to think again (click for larger):
While the U.S. number is up from it low or 24.1% in 2009, it’s still hovering at the bottom of the OECD league table.
Got tipping points?
Cross-posted at Asymptosis.
Doing an eye ball trend line it is amazing how narrow a range we have kept our percentage at. Also how out of sync we have got with other nations.
Here is another variant of that data, showing taxes, and defense, non-defense, and overall spending. Data is a mix of 2010 and 2011 data, whatever was current as of a few months ago.
http://sustainablestate.blogspot.jp/2013/03/weve-got-taxing-problem.html
@Chad:
Right. If we continue the downward trajectory, we can have an economy more like Chile’s or Mexico’s! True libertopian panaceas!