Federal deficit spending is up only “slightly” from last year’s levels, according to a report this week.

During the first six months of the fiscal year, deficit spending was $26.2 billion higher than for the same period last year, the government reported. No one seemed alarmed. In the context of a $4 trillion federal budget, $26.2 billion may not seem like much.

But it amounts to about $81 for every man, woman and child in the country, or $324 for a family of four. Most people would view a $324 household bill in terms other than “slight.”

And, at a time when deficit spending was supposed to be under control, it is growing, adding to the $18.2 trillion national debt.

Some spending discipline might be in order, you say? Not in Washington: Federal spending is up 7.1 percent for the first half of the fiscal year.