Once out of the box….

…Government never has gone back in.  The legacy of FDR & WW II is that when government grew, it never decreased to go back to where it was.  From Greg Mankiw:

He adds this narrative:

This historical episode is one reason why advocates of limited government are rightly worried about the fiscal stimulus package that the incoming administration is going to propose. Rahm Emanuel, the new White House chief of staff, is reported to have said, "You don’t ever want to let a crisis go to waste: It’s an opportunity to do important things that you would otherwise avoid." It is not entirely clear what he meant by this. But one interpretation is that he wants to use a temporary crisis as an pretense to engineer a permanent increase in the size of government.

"Advocate of limited government" – Yes, that would be me.  And this graph is one reason why I am scared stiff of Obama and Emanual.  Ask yourself – what will your personal budget look like if government spending doubles.  Again?