Actually, the decline starts in 1992 and continues through Clinton until Bush2.
Chris
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1991, actually.
But, if you'll note that G.W. Bush's average would have been just slightly over Clinton's if not for 2008.
Guys, keep in mind that we're looking at it in terms of percentage of the GDP. Actual spending is only part of the picture. The state of the economy is the other big part. What might look like a reduction in spending could actually be an increase in productivity. This is probably what we're really seeing toward the end of Clinton's administration
And, honestly, I hate seeing graphs like this broken out by administration. What's more interesting is when there's a split in control and what party is actually in control of Congress vs. the Executive. The President requests a budget but it's really up to Congress to dole the money out. We really should be blaming Congress more than the President when it comes to things like this, IMHO.
With all that said, it's more fun to look back through the entire history of the US with such data. The only stuff I could find last night was from 1940 onward. Prior to WWII you see about 9% of the GDP being spent at the Federal level. If my memory serves me correctly prior to 1940 that was pretty normal unless in time of war. During the height of WWII it spikes up into the 40-45% range. Afterwards see see it dip back down to below the 19% level that we're comfortable with now but then it remains around 19% (give or take a bit) for decades.
What does this tell me? Our culture changed after WWII -- it was OK to have a bigger Federal government after that. And that Democrats and Republicans really don't behave all that much differently when it comes to spending. We just squabble over the details.