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What if GDP is just measuring all those houses being built that could not really be afforded? State spending looks great compared to GDP when enormous amounts
by stretchwithme 16y ago
What if GDP is just measuring all those houses being built that could not really be afforded?
State spending looks great compared to GDP when enormous amounts of money are being borrowed and spent in the state on Internet and housing bubbles.
But why should such a measure be used to decide whether we are getting good value for our money? If anything, the state should be getting leaner with the application of technology that is cutting costs everywhere else.
- _delirium 16y agoIs there macro-scale evidence for the latter part of your assertion? I can't think of other sectors that are getting smaller as a percentage of GDP as a result of technology cutting costs--- not even other service/overhead sectors that are vaguely comparable to government in the sense of just providing infrastructure. For example, you might say, "if anything, the financial sector should be getting leaner with the application of technology that is cutting costs everywhere else", but the financial sector has massively grown as a percentage of GDP (much faster than government has).
- stretchwithme 16y agoSo you don't believe industries can get more efficient when technology is applied? This has to be proven? Over time, the number of sectors in the economy has grown. This can only happen because on average each takes a smaller percentage of the total economy. Yes, they produce more now than when they began. But that is BECAUSE of the application of technology. The financial sector grew fat with cheap money supplied by the Federal Reserve. Its risks have been passed on to people with have no choice in the matter, the future taxpayer. And government is currently helping to hide the bad news. Both government and finance have grown fat on other people's money, people have not yet gotten the total bill.