[Pearls Before Swine]

My economist brother in law estimated that the overall government share of GDP was in the 45% range. This discussion was 10 or 15 years ago. Why should it be surprising that an automobile's cost to a consumer would include about this amount in taxes?

He then went on to say that we were better off than the Europeans, because they were closer to the 60% range. I was unconsoled.

For me, a big issue about large government involvement in the economy is inefficiency. Do government employees work as hard or spend money as efficiently as private workers do? No way (at least in the aggregate, if someone has a story about some individual government employee who takes his trust seriously)!

[Your Nightmare]

My economist brother in law estimated that the overall government share of GDP was in the 45% range. This discussion was 10 or 15 years ago.

More like 30% for federal, state, and local.