[fatuna]

Some quick googling tells me the US gov spends between 35 and 40% of the US GDP. Also, the article says 'relatively'. Compared to other nations, especially other developed nations, the US government can definitely be called 'relatively small'.

[scarab92]

The government share of GDP is a silly thing to care about.

The important questions are:

1. What services do voters want (enough to pay for)

2. How can we meet that need at the lowest cost

The first has a broad range of valid answers, the second is something that everyone ignored until DOGE

[ben_w]

> The first has a broad range of valid answers, the second is something that everyone ignored until DOGE

They cared plenty before, and there's no real indication to me of a difference with DOGE.

Both pre- and post-DOGE, it's all about weird anecdotes like "this wrench cost $20,000! This toilet seat cost $600!"[0], which, even at their current rate of work, would only amount to a rounding error compared to the $2 trillion they talk about cutting.

Which is probably for the best, because the $2 trillion goal — about the combined total of the entire US social security system plus all military pensions — is so large that "success" will cause a huge recession.

[0] https://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-topic-discussions/378125...

[roenxi]

That is the spending, then there'll be a bump up beyond the official figures because of regulation (ie, control of companies that would turn up in categories other than direct government spending). That gets it to most of the economy in my mind.

And things like all the private businesses servicing government workers. Eg, in Washington - sure there'd be a lot there that isn't officially government spending but the ostensibly private infrastructure investment and consumption but really it is all supporting the operation of government.

Once the official stats say the government has reached 40% of the economy, the practical influence is going to be a bit larger again. I'm still happy to say >50%.

> Compared to other nations, especially other developed nations...

I don't think the difference can be defended as important. The US is running a large modern mixed economy. It hasn't been a small-government country since the 70s; at best.

That isn't a compelling case to say 40% of the economy is a small government. The ratio of government spending to private is getting pretty close to 1:1. I'd accept that it isn't "big" in the sense that some places manage to spend even more in % terms, but to call that behemoth "small" is a bridge too far. It is standard sized. Small governments don't control that much of the market.

EDIT And if you want to lean on the "relatively small", in the sense the article is using it makes sense to compare the sizes related to each other, in which case the US government is much larger than every other contender except China. Relative to the German or French government, the US government is enormous. It is a corruption honeypot.