This whole question of 'are material things really all that matters' is kind of boring, but the article does provoke an interesting question: how do you handle

This whole question of 'are material things really all that matters' is kind of boring, but the article does provoke an interesting question: how do you handle bubbles? If you have a colossal GDP, but it's all hinging on a very hot tulip (or housing) market, does that really do all the things a colossal GDP that's, say, service economy based? One of the things people like about GDP is you can sort of get a good guess about how, when the rubber hits the road and countries start pushing and shoving each other, or a calamity like COVID occurs, how it's going to turn out. I wonder how the extremely bubbly (almost foam-like) post-70's economy factors into this.