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Elayne
Lv 6
Elayne asked in Politics & GovernmentGovernment · 10 years ago

Is the government really that big?

I hear a lot of people saying that the government has gotten too big. However, I'm having trouble finding any evidence that the government has been growing. I've just been hearing this recently so I am assuming that the government recently had an immense growth, but I can't find any references that prove this. Has the government really gotten physically bigger or is that a figure of speech?

Update:

I've been looking for statistics of government size but not having luck. If anyone could help me I'd appreciate it.

Update 2:

Rockit, you didn't really answer my question. Has the government been hiring more employees? Where is there evidence of the alleged growth?

Update 3:

Spock, Does that mean that the 6% growth is military? And I'm not talking about speculative future growth that may or may not happen. I'm talking about facts and statistics.

Update 4:

Thanks for the link Eugene... a helpful resource ;-)

3 Answers

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  • Spock (rhp)
    Lv 7
    10 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    the federal government alone is now 25% of the total economy and growing. The historical non-war time average has been about 19%.

    and this is before ObamaCare takes full effect, which will increase the government percentage another couple of points.

    Source(s): grampa
  • Anonymous
    10 years ago

    I think a great chart of government growth is linked here: http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/us_20th_centur...

    Viewing the chart, you will notice two spikes in the GDP: World War I and World War II. Currently, we are rapidly closing on the WWII spike without a worldwide war. We just passed the 40% GDP mark! But, we're not spending it on defending ourselves; we are spending it on payments from working people to others (generally, from young people to the retired).

    What is the GDP calculation? It is a calculation of how much government spends compared to all gross domestic products. This includes even the rent or mortgage payments people make. It includes all sources of income (even babysitters!). It is the sum total of all labors and products produced in the entire nation. And, the government is taking over a 40% cut! Wow!

    This is why many people say government is too big. This situation cannot go on for too much longer before economic collapse occurs. After all, how long would you work for me if I had the legal right to take over 40% of everything you earned, of your savings, and of your possessions? Not long.

    Further, if the government controls your labors 40% of the time, how far are you from being a full-time slave?

    Source(s): http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/us_20th_centur...
  • Anonymous
    10 years ago

    Here's some metrics to look at:

    Number of employees: local, state, federal, there are too many government employees, we could get rid of half of them and nobody would notice.

    Number of people receiving a check from the government. The money has to come from somewhere. The government has to stop handing out money it doesn't have.

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