Should US Federal Government Spending Be Reduced?

Dr. Brooks Robinson\Black Economics.org Photos: YouTube Screenshots The most dramatic development since the November 5, 2024 election for some economists was an announcement by forthcoming President Donald Trump concerning a prospective new US Government bureau (“Department of Government Efficiency”), the potential closures of selected existing bureaus, and the related roles of billionaire Elon Musk and former US President Candidate and near billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy in helping materialize these Trump Administration goals. This entire development cast an awkward spotlight on US Federal Government spending. Whenwe considered these developments, as we did similar developments over two decades ago, thefollowing questions surfaced:[i] (1) How would the US economy have fared absent strong USFederal Government growth? and (2) How has US Government spending tracked over the yearssince the “Great Recession”? Table 1 serves up answers to these two questions. Columns A and B of Table 1 show real gross domestic product (GDP) growth and the FederalGovernments contribution to that growth through consumption expenditures and gross investment(CE&GI).[ii] GDP growth is negative for only two of the 15 years: 2009, which was the end of theGreat Recession; and 2020, which was the onset of the Covid-19 Pandemic. For both years, theFederal Government contributed nearly one half...