The only valid point of concern is government self-spending. Maybe we can look at GDP and GDP excl govt spending as 2 separate metrics, each has its own merits.

The only valid point of concern is government self-spending. Maybe we can look at GDP and GDP excl govt spending as 2 separate metrics, each has its own merits. A relative of mine is working for my country's government for a very long time as a high level economist and leading a government department. One thing that is happening is lots of made-up jobs with made-up work; this is just to keep unemployment low, but most of the money (>60%) return directly to the government as taxes. It artificially increase the GDP. This relative has several hundred of people in the organization that they run, about half are politically appointed (as in "every new minister or state secretary is employing dozens of their friends and relatives") and about 3/4 are not doing any job that results in a positive outcome. Most of the work is paper-pushing "analysis and reporting" that are have no real impact on anything, but are still hired as the number of positions is imposed from very top and hiring is also "influenced" from the top. So what happens with the GDP? It is increasing artificially and it is meaningless in this context.