Private Sector GDP Growth Is Kind of Anemic

Today’s GDP report got me curious about something: how does private sector GDP compare to total GDP? That is, if you pull out government contributions to GDP growth, what does purely private-sector growth look like? Here it is:

Private sector growth has been declining since the start of the expansion, and that decline has picked up speed over the past two years. It’s no wonder President Trump was so eager to agree to sizeable increases in the federal budget this week. He knows perfectly well that his tax cut has worn off and he needs all the help he can get from government spending to prop up an increasingly anemic private sector. For the next year, anyway.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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