When two of US President Donald Trump’s top lieutenants issued a call to remove government spending from the nation’s most-watched gauge of economic growth, they waded into an old and fierce debate that goes far beyond statistics.

Despite reports of ill-tempered exchanges between Elon Musk and cabinet members in a Thursday meeting, Lutnick said that the secretaries still “want his help.”

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday that government spending could be separated from gross domestic product reports in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick plans to make an internet infrastructure investment program “technology-neutral,” according to The Wall Street Journal, meaning Elon Musk’s Starlink could more easily benefit.

Howard Lutnick said Sunday that government spending could be separated from gross domestic product reports in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn.

Dave Portnoy claims that he was offered an official government position. While questioning how Elon Musk is able to continue as CEO of Tesla while performing his duties with the Department of Government Efficiency under President Donald Trump,

Elon Musk’s Starlink could receive up to $20 billion in government funding if the Commerce Department goes ahead with plans to rip up the rule book on rural broadband contracts, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick put a halt to NBC News host Kristen Welker’s repeated questions about who is “in charge” of the president’s cabinet on Sunday, as she appeared to be trying to drive a wedge between the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) Elon Musk and the rest of Trump’s administration.

Yann LeCun, Meta’s chief AI scientist reiterated his concerns about the Trump administration’s budget-cutting strategies and how it can potentially harm the American AI industry in a letter by a coalition of AI and tech groups submitted to the Commerce Secretary,

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick emphatically rejected the risks of a recession even as markets slide — and said America’s biggest trading partners could easily avoid Trump’s twice-delayed tariffs. Lutnick, 63, was asked if he was worried about the US sliding into recession Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” — and gave an unequivocal answer.

Heterodox economists have long criticized politicians’ maniacal obsession with GDP growth, pointing to its relatively recent creation as a measure of national accounts and its limits as a catch-all indicator of a country’s economic health.