Hey big spender!

Many years ago there was a TV ad for cigars in which sultry actress Edie Adams cooed: "Hey big spender, spend a little time with me."

When I read the recently released 2001 Study of Missouri State Government Spending, compiled by the state Chamber of Commerce, the catchy "Hey big spender" phrase came to mind. But instead of envisioning a svelte Edie Adams, I see a big, bloated sow wallowing in the feeding trough.

The study says that in the past decade, the cost of running Missouri government has more than doubled, growing from $7.3 billion in 1990 to $16 billion in 2000. And $17 billion has been appropriated for fiscal year 2001.

The study is especially critical of the years 1992 to 2000, during which time Gov. "Taxman" Carnahan ruled the roost as a fiscal liberal. And the years 1995, 1998, 1999 and 2000 are notable as being the years when the largest growth in state spending occurred. For example, in 1995 there was a $1,382,355,547 increase over the previous year.

Ray McCarty, director of fiscal affairs for the Chamber, did the research for the study, which shows government spending has increased an average of $896 million per year since 1992.

Shoot! Spending by Missouri state agencies even outran federal agency spending -- by almost two to one. During the past decade the state budget increased an average 7.03 percent per year while the federal budget rose 4.38 percent annually.

As if that's not bad enough, state government spending since 1990 has left inflation in the dust. Missouri taxpayers in 2000 paid $6.2 billion more than was necessary to keep pace with inflation.

The state Department of Social Services garnered the most growth, adding almost $2 billion to its budget since 1992.

Over the past eight years, spending has more than doubled for the departments of Insurance, Corrections and Public Safety. Spending has almost doubled for the departments of Judiciary and Elementary and Secondary Education.

And the bureaucrats? They are aplenty. By 2000 state agencies had added 9,951 full-time employees to the 49,300 already on the payroll in 1992. It must be noted, however, that 4,807 of the new employees joined the Department of Corrections. That increase could better be justified than the 2,465 employees that climbed onboard the Department of Social Services.

Members of the Missouri Legislature and the governor need to do something they are no doubt ill-equipped to do -- limit spending increases only to increases in inflation. For example, if state spending for 1999 had increased only at the rate of inflation, the state would have spent $15.4 billion instead of $16 billion. That would have saved taxpayers $600 million. And that's $600 million that could have been used to pay down personal debt and encourage economic activity.