tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20077444.post4156765683674939592..comments2024-03-26T04:21:43.535-05:00Comments on Free Association: Hubris in the First DegreeSheldon Richmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15672237234580563637noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20077444.post-33386609328674321312008-08-04T05:37:00.000-05:002008-08-04T05:37:00.000-05:00Thanks for the clarifications. That means the taxp...Thanks for the clarifications. That means the taxpayers are worth something over $11 trillion.Sheldon Richmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15672237234580563637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20077444.post-28831512552158579272008-08-02T15:07:00.000-05:002008-08-02T15:07:00.000-05:00The part of government spending that consists of t...The part of government spending that consists of transfer payments--payments with no quid pro quo, such as Social Security pensions and Medicare--is not included in GDP. Only government purchases of currently produced goods and services are included. The government component of GDP is now approximately 20 percent (and has remained approximately equal to this percentage for a long time, give or take a couple points).<BR/><BR/>Your point remains, of course: a great deal of this has little or no value, or even negative value, but we have no way to know how much it's worth, if anything, because when government uses tax revenues to pay for the goods, we have no freely made market appraisal of the value. Any other valuation is arbitrary.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20077444.post-76753836199720211102008-08-02T08:15:00.000-05:002008-08-02T08:15:00.000-05:00Your mention that American taxpayers produce "abou...Your mention that American taxpayers produce "about $14 trillion worth of goods and services a year," led me to research. I presume that figure is the U.S. 2007 GDP. However, the formula for GDP (FWIW) includes "government spending" which, according to <A HREF="http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/" REL="nofollow">www.usgovernmentspending.com</A>, is about $5 trillion. So about a third of "goods and services" produced aren't of much benefit.Joehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18006904787527262772noreply@blogger.com