Point of interest.
Blue line: "total" expenditures.
Red line: "current" expenditures.
Not sure what the difference is, but it isn't much.
On the right scale, the green line shows current expenditures as a percent of total. Generally between 96% and 100%, since the late 1960s anyway.
So now I feel better about the validity of graphs that make use of "current" expenditures. It is almost the same number as "total" Federal expenditures.
p.s. I'm not sure what it means when "current" expenditures are more than 100% of "total" expenditures. Not sure how that can happen.
"Current expenditures" are things like like benefits, buying things which get used up, wages for government employees and so on. Other spending is mostly capital spending, of which the Federal government does little. This has NOTHING to do with the current prices versus real masures of output.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the clarification...
ReplyDeleteBut I am not saying Federal spending has anything to do with the price level. I am saying, using real output in the denominator is, very often, very bad arithmetic.
I am saying, using real output in the denominator is, very often, very bad arithmetic.
ReplyDeleteThe arithmetic is OK. The reasoning behind it is faulty.
Cheers!
JzB