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Politics : The Trump Presidency -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: combjelly who wrote (4090)	12/31/2016 10:36:14 PM
From: i-node	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 357183

How is it that you know that?

To: combjelly who wrote (4090)	1/1/2017 12:18:54 AM
From: TimF	1 Recommendation Recommended By i-node Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 357183

I don't think were bumping right up against it the absolute maximum revenue that can be extracted, at least not for short term extraction; but in practical terms we are probably a lot closer than you think. The government has never been able to bring in enough revenue as a percentage of GDP to cover current spending. fred.stlouisfed.org fred.stlouisfed.org Key datapoints . 2015 federal spending 20.45 percent of GDP. Highest federal revenue in history 1945 (When the government economy was bloated and the civilian economy held down by WWII) 19.79 percent of GDP. And its not current spending that's really the issue (except to the extent that it pushes the deficit and thus future debt payments up), but the huge increases in entitlement spending coming along if changes are not made. Such changes don't seem likely in the near term (the Democrats would fight it tooth and nail, Trump is apparently against strong entitlement reform, and the Republicans in congress would be divided on the issue), and the longer reform is delayed the less effective and more painful it will be.