Another milestone in the growth of the Washington Leviathan is pointed out by the Cato Institute’s Chris Edwards, whose assistant, Amy Mandler, noted that the two latest Obama administration additions to the roll of federal program brought the total to 2,001.

“There is a federal subsidy program for every year that has passed since Emperor Augustus held sway in Rome. We’ve gone from bread and circuses to food stamps, the National Endowment for the Arts, and 1,999 other hand-out programs from the imperial city on the Potomac,” Edwards said.