As long as we have the current leadership in Congress, the federal government will continue to grow. That is true despite what you are hearing about coming drastic cuts by the super committee or drastic cuts if the super committee fails.

This is where we are:

George Will posted an article at the Washington Post yesterday explaining that the current discussions are all smoke and mirrors.

The article reports:

But suppose the sequester occurs. Ignore loose talk about “draconian” spending cuts. Veronique de Rugy of George Mason University’s Mercatus Center has a graph you should see.

It shows two lines. The top one charts spending, 2013-2021, without the sequester; the other shows spending with the sequester. Both lines are ascending. Both show annual spending rising from less than $4 trillion to more than $5 trillion. The space between them is so narrow that it is difficult to see that there are two lines. Without the sequester, spending will increase $1.7 trillion; with the sequester, spending will increase $1.6 trillion. Here are categories of spending:

Ten-year spending increases:

                                                     Without                         With

Defense                                   20 percent                    18 percent

Nondefense discretionary     14 percent                   12 percent

Medicare                                   62 percent                    62 percent

Other mandatory                      51 percent                     51 percent

Net interest                            152 percent                   136 percent

This whole super committee thing seems to be much ado about nothing.