The belief that recipients of government aid are better off the more we spend on them is remarkably persistent. No matter how many times this central tenet of liberalism gets debunked like Brett Favre it just keeps coming back.

Increased government spending can provide a temporary stimulus to demand and output but in the longer run higher levels of government spending crowd out private investment or require higher taxes that weaken growth by reducing incentives to save invest innovate and work.

Remember that government doesn't earn one single dollar it spends. In order for you to get money from the government that money must first be taken from somebody else.

Since taking office President Obama has signed into law spending increases of nearly 25 percent for domestic government agencies - an 84 percent increase when you include the failed stimulus. All of this new government spending was sold as 'investment.'

I don't believe we need the government's help as much as some think we do. That belief sets me apart from the Democrats since their way of dealing with everything is to tax and spend.

We need transparency in government spending. We need to put each government expenditure online so every Floridian can see where their tax money is being spent.

I know it's going to be the private sector that leads this country out of the current economic times we're in. You can spend your money better than the government can spend your money.

I would cap the amount of federal government can spend at 20 percent of the economy. Bring it back to 20 percent or lower. And say we are not going to spend above that level. Democrats they want to raise your taxes and spend more and more and turn us into an economy which is no longer driven by the private sector.

By making bold cuts in spending and commonsense entitlement reforms we will make our government simpler smaller and smarter.

Government is taking 40 percent of the GDP. And that's at the state local and federal level. President Obama has taken government spending at the federal level from 20 percent to 25 percent. Look at some point you cease being a free economy and you become a government economy. And we've got to stop that.