ABSTRACT
The most frequently used and accepted explanation for the growth of government is that it is caused by increasing wealth and industrialization. When authors observe that movements to decrease social distinctions— between men and women, black and white, endangered species and under-privileged minorities, experts and laymen, authority and citizens—aim to achieve equality of condition, the growth of public spending is clearly part and parcel of the movement toward equality of condition. When the economy produces sufficient surplus, spending grows painlessly; when there are shortages, spending grows noiselessly as inflation increases effective taxation or tax expenditures and loan guarantees substitute for amounts that would otherwise appear in the red. Instead of searching for a magic method that would only evaporate in the mist, budgeters should seek procedures and processes that give spenders an interest in saving.
