This morning in The American, I question the idea that the United States has entered a new era of austerity. According to a recent Krugman column, the U.S. is tightening its belt, and that’s a bad thing. His evidence: The Senate’s failure to pass a bill that would have sent more money to the states to fill their budget gaps.

You tell me if these numbers speak of austerity: The federal government will spend $4 trillion this year; the nation runs a $1.4 trillion deficit, with $7.5 trillion in debt held by the public and $50 trillion in unfunded entitlement spending. They don’t to me.

Second, here is a chart showing that the government is spending plenty and that there is no risk of it starving.

Using Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the chart compares recent changes in government expenditures — or federal, state, and local government purchases of labor, goods, and services — and private domestic investment.

Notice something? With the exception of 2004 and 2005, government consumption and investment has grown more quickly than private expenditures and investment every year this decade. In the last ten years, the private sector has, on average, grown 1.2 percent annually, while the government has, on average, grown 3.5 percent annually. What’s more, while the private sector contracted in three of the past ten years, the government has continued to grow throughout the period. The government grows, regardless of changes in the economy.

My point is that if there is austerity, it’s not in government. The whole thing here.