If you look at the states by per capita income, it is revealing.
They don’t discuss the government part of GDP, Look at the top 10 states and you see the government affect. But in reality much of the government sector is a capital sink, contributes little to actual production of anything.
The deeper issue is that these numbers started to lose their meaning when the country changed from a private manufacturing powerhouse (producing real stuff needed all over the world) to a government/health care/finance/insurance/real estate powerhouse that actually “produces” relatively little.
The government expenditure example is obvious—but likewise real estate agents selling one person’s existing house to another person is not “producing” anything.
The “product” is not “product” any more.
continuing my post—take a look at the largest employers in different regions.
The top ten are mostly city or county or state government, hospitals, school districts etc. with manufacturing operations having only one or two on the list.
I saw a story saying that Taylor Swift contributes $5B, was it? to the world economy — between concert tickets, hotel rooms, restaurants, etc.
It’s probably a “broken window” fallacy but I’m not sure.