You can download the data used for Annual Federal Spending in “Stuck on Stupid.” Click on the text in the text box, select it with CTL-A, copy it to the clipboard with CTL-C, and paste it into a spreadsheet.

year	fed_spend	fed_deficit
1901	0.53	0.063	
1902	0.49	0.077	
1903	0.52	0.045	
1904	0.58	-0.043	
1905	0.57	-0.023	
1906	0.57	0.025	
1907	0.58	0.087	
1908	0.66	-0.057	
1909	0.69	-0.089	
1910	0.69	-0.018	
1911	0.69	0.011	
1912	0.69	0.003	
1913	0.72	0.000	
1914	0.73	0.000	
1915	0.75	-0.063	
1916	0.71	0.048	
1917	1.95	-0.853	
1918	12.68	-9.032	
1919	18.49	-13.363	
1920	6.36	0.291	
1921	5.06	0.509	
1922	3.29	0.736	
1923	3.14	0.713	
1924	2.91	0.963	
1925	2.92	0.717	
1926	2.93	0.865	
1927	2.86	1.155	
1928	2.96	0.939	
1929	3.13	0.734	
1930	3.3	0.8	
1931	3.6	-0.6	
1932	4.7	-4.0	
1933	4.6	-4.5	
1934	6.5	-5.9	
1935	6.4	-4.0	
1936	8.2	-5.5	
1937	7.6	-2.5	
1938	6.8	-0.1	
1939	9.1	-3.2	
1940	9.5	-2.9	
1941	13.7	-4.9	
1942	35.1	-20.5	
1943	78.6	-54.6	
1944	91.3	-47.6	
1945	92.7	-47.6	
1946	55.2	-15.9	
1947	34.5	4.0	
1948	29.8	11.8	
1949	38.8	0.6	
1950	42.6	-3.1	
1951	45.5	6.1	
1952	67.7	-1.5	
1953	76.1	-6.5	
1954	70.9	-1.2	
1955	68.4	-3.0	
1956	70.6	3.9	
1957	76.6	3.4	
1958	82.4	-2.8	
1959	92.1	-12.8	
1960	92.2	0.3	
1961	97.7	-3.3	
1962	106.8	-7.1	
1963	111.3	-4.8	
1964	118.5	-5.9	
1965	118.2	-1.4	
1966	134.5	-3.7	
1967	157.5	-8.6	
1968	178.1	-25.2	
1969	183.64	3.24	
1970	195.65	-2.84	
1971	210.17	-23.03	
1972	230.68	-23.37	
1973	245.71	-14.91	
1974	269.36	-6.14	
1975	332.33	-53.24	
1976	371.79	-73.73	
1977	95.98	-53.66	
1978	409.22	-59.19	
1979	458.75	-40.73	
1980	504.03	-73.83	
1981	590.94	-78.97	
1982	678.24	-127.98	
1983	745.74	-207.8	
1984	808.36	-185.37	
1985	851.85	-212.31	
1986	946.4	-221.22	
1987	990.43	-149.73	
1988	1004.08	-155.15	
1989	1064.46	-152.46	
1990	1143.65	-221.2	
1991	1253.17	-269.33	
1992	1324.37	-290.38	
1993	1381.66	-255.09	
1994	1409.49	-203.25	
1995	1461.88	-163.97	
1996	1515.8	-107.47	
1997	1560.54	-21.96	
1998	1601.25	69.21	
1999	1652.59	125.56	
2000	1701.89	236.45	
2001	1788.77	127.3	
2002	1863.9	-157.8	
2003	2010.98	-304.16	
2004	2140.38		
2005			
2006			
2007			
2008			
2009

Year	Annual Federal Spending	Annual Federal Deficit
1901	0.53	0.063
1902	0.49	0.077
1903	0.52	0.045
1904	0.58	-0.043
1905	0.57	-0.023
1906	0.57	0.025
1907	0.58	0.087
1908	0.66	-0.057
1909	0.69	-0.089
1910	0.69	-0.018
1911	0.69	0.011
1912	0.69	0.003
1913	0.72	0.000
1914	0.73	0.000
1915	0.75	-0.063
1916	0.71	0.048
1917	1.95	-0.853
1918	12.68	-9.032
1919	18.49	-13.363
1920	6.36	0.291
1921	5.06	0.509
1922	3.29	0.736
1923	3.14	0.713
1924	2.91	0.963
1925	2.92	0.717
1926	2.93	0.865
1927	2.86	1.155
1928	2.96	0.939
1929	3.13	0.734
1930	3.3	0.8
1931	3.6	-0.6
1932	4.7	-4.0
1933	4.6	-4.5
1934	6.5	-5.9
1935	6.4	-4.0
1936	8.2	-5.5
1937	7.6	-2.5
1938	6.8	-0.1
1939	9.1	-3.2
1940	9.5	-2.9
1941	13.7	-4.9
1942	35.1	-20.5
1943	78.6	-54.6
1944	91.3	-47.6
1945	92.7	-47.6
1946	55.2	-15.9
1947	34.5	4.0
1948	29.8	11.8
1949	38.8	0.6
1950	42.6	-3.1
1951	45.5	6.1
1952	67.7	-1.5
1953	76.1	-6.5
1954	70.9	-1.2
1955	68.4	-3.0
1956	70.6	3.9
1957	76.6	3.4
1958	82.4	-2.8
1959	92.1	-12.8
1960	92.2	0.3
1961	97.7	-3.3
1962	106.8	-7.1
1963	111.3	-4.8
1964	118.5	-5.9
1965	118.2	-1.4
1966	134.5	-3.7
1967	157.5	-8.6
1968	178.1	-25.2
1969	183.64	3.24
1970	195.65	-2.84
1971	210.17	-23.03
1972	230.68	-23.37
1973	245.71	-14.91
1974	269.36	-6.14
1975	332.33	-53.24
1976	371.79	-73.73
1977	95.98	-53.66
1978	409.22	-59.19
1979	458.75	-40.73
1980	504.03	-73.83
1981	590.94	-78.97
1982	678.24	-127.98
1983	745.74	-207.8
1984	808.36	-185.37
1985	851.85	-212.31
1986	946.4	-221.22
1987	990.43	-149.73
1988	1004.08	-155.15
1989	1064.46	-152.46
1990	1143.65	-221.2
1991	1253.17	-269.33
1992	1324.37	-290.38
1993	1381.66	-255.09
1994	1409.49	-203.25
1995	1461.88	-163.97
1996	1515.8	-107.47
1997	1560.54	-21.96
1998	1601.25	69.21
1999	1652.59	125.56
2000	1701.89	236.45
2001	1788.77	127.3
2002	1863.9	-157.8
2003	2010.98	-304.16
2004	2140.38
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009

Consumer Price Index:
The US Census Bureau maintains a time series, E-135: Consumer Price Indexes (all items) from 1800 to 1970.
Bicentennial Edition: Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970, Part 1
E. Prices and Price Indexes: Series E-135; p.211 (pdf)

Why Stuck on Stupid?

Seventy years ago the leaders of both US political parties turned away from the policies that had created an economic powerhouse we call the Roaring Twenties. For ten long years Americans suffered through wrenching economic dislocations: deflation, inflation, a four-year economic contraction, endless unemployment, mindless political experiments, and ruthless attacks on businessmen for political gain as their leaders stayed Stuck on Stupid.

Today, after a twenty-five year economic boom, Americans are once more faced with a political elite that wants to monkey with success. It wants to raise tax rates. It wants to restrict trade. It wants to increase government power.

It‘s time to look back and remind ourselves how it came to be, starting in 1929, that America got itself Stuck on Stupid. Otherwise it could happen again.

1929-1939: “A Decade that will live — in stupidity.”

Education

“We have met with families in which for weeks together, not an article of sustenance but potatoes had been used; yet for every child the hard-earned sum was provided to send them to school.”
E. G. West, Education and the State

Mutual Aid

In 1911... at least nine million of the 12 million covered by national insurance were already members of voluntary sick pay schemes. A similar proportion were also eligible for medical care.
Green, Reinventing Civil Society

Democratic Capitalism

Three dynamic and converging systems functioning as one: a democratic polity, an economy based on markets and incentives, and a moral-cultural system which is plural and, in the largest sense, liberal.
Michael Novak, The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism

Government Expenditure

The Union publishes an exact return of the amount of its taxes; I can get copies of the budgets of the four and twenty component states; but who can tell me what the citizens spend in the administration of county and township?
Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America