Ross Douthat and Sadly, No! catch elite conservative economists making misleading suggestions that pork barrel spending has grown dramatically under President Bush. But this is a myth, as the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (among others) points out (via Yglesias). Funding for domestic discretionary programs has actually “shrunk both as a share of the budget and as a share of the economy” under President Bush — the growth in spending has largely taken place in the defense and homeland security budget. Shouldn’t economists writing op-eds and think tank papers know this?