NPR.

This is the indicator from Planet Money.

I'm Waylon Wong.

And I'm Patty Hirsch.

The big mama of economic indices, gross domestic product, is under attack again. This time,

from within. Have I seen this movie before? Probably. And GDP has always come in for criticism

from people with a whole range of nits to pick about what goes into the data and what's left out.

But those criticisms usually come from non-governmental agencies and institutions.

Last week, the attack on US GDP came from the man whose own agency generates that number

each month, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik.

You know, the Commerce Department runs the statistics of GDP.

You know, the governments historically have messed with GDP. They count government spending as part of GDP. You know, the governments historically have messed with GDP. They count

government spending as part of GDP. So I'm going to separate those two and make it transparent.

On today's show, we'll look at why government spending is part of GDP in the US. We'll speculate

on why the Commerce Secretary might want to take it out and what it could mean if he does. That's coming up after the US. We'll speculate on why the Commerce Secretary might want to take it out and what it could

mean if he does. That's coming up after the break.

All good indicator listeners know what gross domestic product is, right? The total value of all

goods and services produced in a given period. That, Alison Schrager

says, includes goods and services provided by or paid for by the government. GDP is just GDP.

It's just like, how big is the economy? It's not that hard, and you can't take the government

part out of it because the government is a significant part of that.

Allison is a senior fellow at the conservative think tank, the Manhattan Institute.

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