Eating Away at GDP Growth Is Not the Same As Eating Away at Economic Progress

This distinction is lost way too often at Business Insider.  Sam Ro reproduces the following chart to make his point:

The good news is that less government spending means less government consumption. It means fewer scarce economic goods controlled by bureaucrats. This is not something to be distraught about. Of course, if one is a tax consumer, less government spending impinges on one's lifestyle.  The best thing that could happen is for the 800,000 furloughed government employees to seek employment apart from the leviathan state. The are already recognized as "non-essential." If that is the case, perhaps they should find an employer for whom their labor is essential.