> There are claims that federal spending is out of control. How do you square that with the fact that spending as a percentage of GDP is only slightly elevated

> There are claims that federal spending is out of control. How do you square that with the fact that spending as a percentage of GDP is only slightly elevated compared to the historical average going back to at least the 1970s, with the main deviation in the past few years coming from the after-effects of the pandemic? Pretty sure one of the core arguments behind the drive to slash federal spending is the belief that federal spending has been out of control since long before the 1970s.