Government spending: growing with GDP since 1960.

• Author: Davidson, Paul
• Position: ALASKA TRENDS

Total United States government expenditure is recorded by the Office of Management and Budget and includes federal, state and local government spending. Government expenditures peak in times of war with spending at more than 50 percent of Gross Domestic Product during WW2. Total federal government revenue for 2011 is $2.3 trillion and total federal spending is $3.6 trillion.

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The 2011 $1.3 trillion deficit accounts for 8.7 percent of U.S. GDP, the third highest deficit as share of GDP for the federal government in the past 40 years. Total government expenditure has been 30.78 percent of GDP, on average, for the past 50 years; this percentage is lowest in 1960 at 26.2 percent and highest in 2007 at 37.1 percent.

The chart, in current dollars, shows government expenditure growing...