Is it just me or is there a very basic math error here? The chart compares the sum of deficits (aka the increase in cumulative debt) over several years to the increase in GDP. But GDP is an annual measure. You can’t say that the debt is directly paying for the increased GDP as depicted here, because in fact the quantity measured by GDP <i>resets</i> each year. If one dollar spent by the government once can create one dollar of GDP not only this year, but also keep creating another dollar of GDP for each year in perpetuity, that would actually be a pretty good investment! The basic macro answer would be that a dollar of government spending gives you a dollar of GDP <i>this year only</i> (perhaps with some constant multiplier), so this would be a great result for proponents of government spending.<p>We ought to compare annual debt to annual production, or cumulative debt to cumulative production.