Q4 GDP comes in at 1.4%, as govt purchases fell 5.1%.

This probably ends up "washing out" in the long run. What the gov didn't spend Q4 during shutdown it will end up spending Q1 this year, so we probably end up seeing a big swing from Q4 25 to Q1 26.

EDIT* So I was wrong on the contract spend it hit record highs last year. the Govspend data was prior to end of FY25

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In FY25, the federal government spent $833.83B —an increase of $50B or 7.47%—over FY24 when federal spending reached $774B. While the early trends suggested FY25 spending would track closely to FY24, and that DOGE-related cuts would not materially reduce overall spend, the final figure exceeded expectations, pushing the federal contracts awarded to a new peak of $833.8B! (This number includes Other Transaction awards)

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So, I thought they had reigned in contract spending, when in reality it was a massive jump YoY.

quote:

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FY25 federal contracting reached a historic high of $833.8B, underscoring that overall federal spend remains resilient despite changes in policies, FAR rewrites, executive orders, and DOGE. Growth was driven primarily by defense agencies, continued concentration among a smaller pool of awardees, and sustained reliance on major contract vehicles, OTAs, and innovation programs such as SBIR/STTR. At the same time, the data also highlights important counter-trends: fewer companies winning contracts, notable declines across several civilian agencies, increasing concentration among the largest primes, and a shrinking pool of first-time entrants.

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Large primes have been eating big in this admin.

Reduced spending internal gov spending, more on large acquisitions with big primes

There's good money in government work if done properly

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I am for running the country like a business. Spend less than you make is sound business practice. We should try it.

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The government is a monopoly. So if they ran it like a business they would charge you 10x more than you’re currently paying for their services. And they’d outsource all their services to India or some other country for cheap labor. And only big cities would get services. So Louisiana would get near nothing in Federal funding. Because that’s what businesses do. Maximize profits.

I’m all for a balanced budget, but trope about running government like a business is cringy and low level thinking. Do you want private equity to run the government?!

You are inserting assumptions. So running like to business translates to charging 10x more for services? No.

The deficit is serious money. Let's just keep spending more than we can afford to?

Wal-Mart could run our country better than anything we have seen from our politicians.

Focusing on spending is not low level. Believe what you want. That would be the first step in running like a business.