16.the dollar level of government spending in total is not necessarily equal to the dollar level of government as a component of gdp. this is so because a.government itself does not produce anything, so it cannot be included in a variable that measures production b.government spending is offset by taxes and borrowing, so only positive net spending can be included in the computation of gdp, not total spending c.government spending is offset by positive levels of taxes and negative levels of transfer payments, assuring that government will be a smaller portion of gdp than its actual spending