The Austerity Myth: Federal Spending Up 5% This Year (State Spending Up Too!)

``Some analysts have blamed these spending cuts for this year's economic slowdown. But data released by the Treasury Department on Friday show that, so far, there haven't been any spending cuts at all. In fact, in the first nine months of this year, federal spending was $120 billion higher than in the same period in 2010, the data show. That's an increase of almost 5%. And deficits during this time were $23.5 billion higher.''