At what point in our history did we have the relationship between government spending and citizens needs in balance? If it wasn't in balance, was there a period where we were as close to balanced as you think is possible?
In other words, how much spending is reasonably necessary to run, protect, and prepare for the future of this experiment called America and her citizens?
For your consideration:
yr Fed spending. population. per person / yr
1800..... 11M ..... 5M .... $2.2
1850.... 40M .... 23M..... $1.74
1900.... 541M... 76M...... $7.19
1950..... 42B...... 151M .. $278
60.... 77B.... 179M... $430
70... 194B... 203M ... $956
80 .... 532B.... 227M .... $2,344
90.... 1T.... 250M.... $4,000
2000.... 1.8T.... 282M..... $6,383
10..... 3.5T .... 309M .... $11,327
20 .... 7.7T.... 331M .... $23,263
24.... 6.75T.... 340M .... $19,852
Note: $2.20 in 1800 is equivalent to $56.13 in 2025. If that equivalent was spent today as it was in 1800, our federal spending would be a little over 19B in 2024.
According to wikipedia, we are on par per capita with Switzerland. And very close to Luxemborg, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, France, Ireland, Iceland, and Sweden.