Finally Working For Yourselves
We missed the Cost of Government Day (COGD) last Saturday, August 12, which, according to Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), “is the day on which the average American has earned enough gross income to pay off his or her share of the spending and regulatory burdens imposed by government at the federal, state, and local levels.” A summary of what COGD means is that in 2011:
“On average, workers must toil 224 days out of the year just to meet all costs imposed by government. In other words, the cost of government consumes 61.42 percent of national income.”
Other trends reported by ATR in their 2011 report include the following:
“Cost of Government falls two days earlier than last year’s revised date of August 14. In 2011, the average American will have to work an additional 41 days to pay off his or her share of the cost of government compared to ten years ago in 2001, when COGD was July 2.
“In fact, between 1977 and 2008, COGD had never fallen later than July 20. 2011 marks the third consecutive year COGD has fallen in August. The difference between 2008 and 2009—from July 16 to August 14—was a full 29 days. The increase was spurred by government intervention in the form of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (EESA) that created the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).
“The two day decrease of the 2011 COGD is only a temporary fall before projections of increased future spending. In March 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) into law which will add $2.3 trillion to COGD over its first decade. Even without counting Obamacare’s contributions to future COGDs, the three years of the Obama Administration have been three record-setting years of federal government regulation and spending—a 21.78 percent increase relative to the average size of the federal government between 1977 and 2008.
“Additionally, 2011 COGD estimates are premised upon CBO’s ambitious 2011 calendar year estimate of 3.7 percent GDP growth. CBO numbers may overestimate annual growth because first quarter growth was limited to just 1.8 percent while real wages, durable-goods orders, manufacturing production, home sales, and real per-capita disposable incomes have been in decline since April. Therefore, the estimate in this report may significantly underestimate the real cost of government for 2011.”
The following chart from the ATR report shows the long-term trend of Cost of Government Days from 1977 to 2011:
Now that you’re working for yourself, take some time to study the entire report since it highlights the effects of stimulus spending and the bailouts as well as the cost of government day in the 50 states.
Incidentally, COGD is also August 12 for Virginia's workers. However, it ranges as late as September 10 for workers toiling in Connecticut. Workers in Maryland have the distinction of knowing that Maryland maintains its fourth place spot for the second year in a row at August 20.