misterman
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To estimate the extent of government depredation on private product, we first find private product by deducting “product” or “income” originating in government and “government enterprise”— i.e., the payment of government salaries—from Gross National Product. We now have the Gross Private Product. Government depredations upon this GPP consist of the resources that government drains from the private sector, i.e., total government expenditures or receipts, whichever is the higher. This total subtracted from the GPP yields the private product remaining in private hands, which we may call PPR. The percentage of government depredation to gross private product yields an estimate of the burden of government’s fiscal operations on the private economy.
From America's Great Depression by Murray Rothbard.
This doesn't measure the value the government adds to a product. Which is very real even if you're skeptical.