Rolling back to 2008 dollars

  Watching the liberal Congress and President in action the last two years has been remarkable and horrifying, with respect to the flagrant disregard for any kind of financial accountability. Now, of course, as the House prepares to cut the budget (slightly) the squealing has begun. "It'll hurt the children," the anti-accountability forces screech when, in reality, the truth is that cuts will hurt the kind of ACORN and activism that has encouraged the abortion monsters to succeed, the "activists" to molest private citizens, and the bizarre global warming conspiracists.
  NRO has a rundown of the increase in spending just in the last two years. We hear over and over what a "mess" The One inherited, but, in reality, the mess was only made worse by irresponsible and destructive policies.
  Billions of dollars have been wasted on nonsensical and activist projects that represent very small portions of the nation; certain sectors have benefited from billions of dollars that have not done anything to improve the job situation. Indeed, unemployment is acknowledged at 9.8%. This figure does not factor in the chronically unemployed.
  Here's the link over to NRO. There are many charts that show the increase and where it's been spent. Of course, rolling back to 2008 is a great cut, but should only be the beginning:

Now that House Republicans are seeking a return to pre-stimulus levels — and targeting many of these same propped-up federal agencies in the process — Harry Reid thinks its too extreme for his liking. But compared to the spending increases that took place over the past two years, Ryan’s cuts are strikingly modest — and yet only the beginning of what’s required. A closer look at just how much, and how rapidly, some of these federal agencies’ discretionary budgets have ballooned under the Obama administration reveals that well, yes, deep cuts will be necessary if lawmakers are even remotely serious about restoring fiscal sanity to the budget process. But draconian? Hardly. (Figures courtesy the Congressional Budget Office).

And one of the charts:

  DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION:

2008 level:	$10.7 billion
2010 level:	$21.3 billion
“Stimulus”:	+$48.1 billion
Increase (2008-10)	$10.6 billion (+99%)
Total two-year increase (including stimulus):	$58.7 billion (+549%)