I don't like the way GDP is calculated as government deficit spending is counted as a positive.
Currently GDP = consumption + investment + government spending + (exports - imports)
Since government spending has to come from taxes or deficits, the government part should be:
(government spending - annualized net present value of government debt and liabilities)
Right now only current debt service is counted as a negative...so artificially low interest rates and massive future promises (unfunded liabilities) used to "stimulate" increase the GDP when in fact, since that money has to come from somewhere, it should be adjusted downward for deficit spending.
For instance, our annual deficits have been around 8-10% GDP, compared to about 5-6% in say 2007-2008. That increase in spending "looks" like an increasing in GDP...however, as the NPV of those deficits is greater than their current cash price, that means our actual long-term (accrual method) GDP has actually been negative.
The effect is like saying your net income is your income after taxes PLUS the value of any new loans, minus your current debt service.
So if you have $100k of net income, and take out a $50k car loan that costs you $1k/mo, does that mean your personal GDP is $138k for the year? No.
A consumption plus investment GDP, while useful for describing the "size" of an economy is useless for determining the "standard of living" of a country when thinking beyond the immediate.
Extreme point:
Let's say your net income was $100k, and you used that to take out a loan of $400k (5yr loan).
Well, you could consume $400k in "stuff" this year, but your loan payments would be $100k a year...meaning your consumption for the next 4 more years is zero. So your long term average is $80k per year.
So while it appeared your personal economy was bigger this year, it was actually smaller, as you shifted future spending forward to today, at a net loss.
The true wealth of a country cannot be increased by indiscriminate borrowing to increase consumption, any more than you can borrow and spend (consumption, not investment) yourself wealthy.