[fhayek]

I am just a simple farmboy from Western New York. But I DO have a spreadsheet. Anyway, (and I invite anyone to critique my thinking on this), GDP includes government spending (at all levels). But a sizeable part of Federal Government spending is borrowed (i.e. 'the deficit). So what happens when you deduct the deficit from the GDP? For 2014, instead of 2.4% growth, you have a much more modest .91% growth in GDP. In other words growth is much less impressive if you don't count what you put on the credit card. My thinking is that you are inflating today's economic growth on the backs of future generations.

But you know what? That .91% is by far the best growth rate during the Obama years:

2010 -5.00%
2011 -4.80%
2012 -2.81%
2013 -0.45%
2014 0.91%

These are the rates of growth for the economy if you net out the deficits that were used to goose the numbers. In other words, we got something like $3 trillion in increases to the GDP, but we increased the national debt by nearly $4.9 trillion over that period. I am sure our grandchildren will really appreciate Obama's economic record.

[Toddsterpatriot]

Anyway, (and I invite anyone to critique my thinking on this), GDP includes government spending (at all levels).

Yes, one method of calculating GDP uses spending.

GDP (Y) is the sum of consumption (C), investment (I), government spending (G) and net exports (X – M).

So what happens when you deduct the deficit from the GDP?

You get the wrong answer.

In other words growth is much less impressive if you don't count what you put on the credit card.

Use a different method of calculating it. You'll see borrowing isn't involved in the measurement.