The sad fact is that spending rises every year, no matter what

Hear the sober words of Ben Stein: “The sad fact is that spending rises every year, no matter what people want or say they want.” This statement, though it appears to concern only the realm of wealth and budgets, carries a deeper truth about human nature, desire, and the cycles of excess that echo through history. For it is not only governments and treasuries that suffer this fate, but households, nations, and empires alike. To spend beyond measure is not just an economic choice—it is a mirror of the restless heart, never content with what it has.

The ancients knew this well. The philosophers of Greece spoke of moderation, warning against the endless hunger that drives men to ruin. Aristotle himself declared that virtue lies in balance, between excess and deficiency. Yet the world has seldom heeded such wisdom. Each year brings promises of restraint, of prudence, of living within limits, yet the sad fact remains: spending grows, as if by its own will. It is the nature of human desire to expand, to seek more comfort, more luxury, more illusion of safety. Stein’s lament is not about numbers alone, but about the eternal struggle between discipline and indulgence.

History bears witness. Consider the grandeur of Rome. In its early days, the Republic was austere, its leaders wary of excess. But as centuries passed, wealth flowed from conquered lands, and with wealth came waste. Senators built palaces, banquets grew more lavish, and the coffers strained under the weight of endless expenditure. Rome promised to cut back, to return to old virtues, yet it never did. The spending rose until the empire itself collapsed beneath its own extravagance. Thus Stein’s observation is no modern discovery, but a truth carved in the ashes of fallen civilizations.

Nor is this confined to empires. Families, too, know this battle. A household may declare, “We shall save, we shall live simply,” yet each passing year brings new wants: new clothes, new devices, new indulgences. What begins as necessity grows into desire, and desire grows into waste. The people may say they long for frugality, yet their actions betray them, for the heart is quick to justify its appetites. In this way, the pattern repeats itself, generation after generation.

But let us not hear only despair in Stein’s words. For though the sad fact is real, awareness is the beginning of wisdom. To name the problem is to face it, and to face it is to resist it. The lesson is not that growth is evil, nor that wealth is shameful, but that unchecked expansion without discipline leads to bondage. The one who cannot govern his spending is no freer than the one enslaved by chains. True freedom is not in having all one desires, but in mastering desire itself.

The teaching, then, is clear: practice restraint, cultivate gratitude, and let your wealth—whether great or small—serve higher purposes. Do not be deceived by the comfort of promises, whether from rulers or from your own heart, for words of moderation mean little without deeds of discipline. Remember that what grows endlessly without balance consumes itself, like fire without fuel, or waves without shore.

Therefore, take practical steps: mark your spending, ask yourself if each expense is rooted in need or in vanity. Choose to save, to give, to build wisely, rather than to consume thoughtlessly. And when leaders or voices promise restraint yet deliver extravagance, hold them accountable, lest your nation follow the same path as Rome. For in both personal and public life, unchecked spending is the slow erosion of strength.

Thus Ben Stein’s lament becomes an ancient teaching: that the rise of spending is not merely economic, but moral. It is the sign of a people forgetting discipline, the symptom of desires unbridled. Yet the wise will resist, will govern their appetites, and will seek balance. For in that balance lies endurance, and in endurance lies the survival of both household and empire.