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Government Expenditures Plus Transfer Payments Equals 30.7% of GDP

By Mish   Follow   Wed, 30 Jan 2013, 5:04pm   212 views   2 comments
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Government Expenditures Plus Transfer Payments Equals 30.7% of GDP; GDP Shocking Downward Surprise; Don't Worry It's Transitory
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2013/01/government-expenditures-plus-transfer.html
Mish

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1. Kevin Follow Befriend 40 threads 2,652 comments

   1   8:48pm Wed 30 Jan 2013   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (1)   Dislike   So? It's hovered between 30-40% since WWII. It's pretty average by global standards: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_spending#As_a_percentage_of_GDP Nearly every wealthy country on the planet can attribute 30-50% of its GDP to government (as can most poor countries). The countries that can't are places like Burma and Guatemala (yikes!), gambling-funded countries, and countries with large government owned industries (socialist / communist) that are accounted for separately. Want to spend less? Great. Lets have a state-owned revenue source instead. Not a fan of communism? How about massive gambling and huge gambling taxes to go with it? Still no? How about...being a third-world shithole like Guatemala?

2. marcus Follow Befriend (5) 166 threads 5,054 comments

   2   9:38pm Wed 30 Jan 2013   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (1)   Dislike   Mish's bottom line: "Always remember: Government spending and government giveaways (regardless of how stupid or unproductive) add to nominal GDP, by definition. " Do me a favor Mish. Check out Increases in government spending under Reagan, and their impact on GDP. Of course Reagan was President at the perfect time. Inflation winding down. Interest rates dropping fast from the stratosphere. He was in the catbird seat. It would have been really hard to fuck that up.