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submitted 11 months ago by cyu@sh.itjust.works to c/unions@lemmy.ml
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[-] neanderthal@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

I even question the usefulness at high levels. It doesn't measure how much wealth is produced. Say our GDP is 10 billion. Let's say 2 billion is tshirts that suck and get thrown away. Next year we make tshirts that last 5 years and our GDP is 11 billion because they cost more. Year 3, it shrinks to 9 billion because we don't have to make as many tshirts. We are better off in year 3 than year 1 by a billion, because we actually kept those shirts instead of tossing them.

I would like to see GDP numbers adjusted for useful production. E.g. since 40% of food is trashed, cut that portion of the GDP by 30% (we need some wiggle room so a bad crop doesn't cause a famine)

[-] wintermute_oregon@lemm.ee 2 points 11 months ago

I’m not an economist, as such I don’t understand all the nuances for gdp but it seems every time a dollar trades hands, it impacts the gdp.

The problem is a lot of its funny money.

We also base our budgets on gdp. As such it’s screwy as we spend like all of its being taxed.

Military is 3% gdp which doesn’t place us in the top 10 for spending. Yet on dollars we are the highest spender by far but we don’t collect enough to cover our debts.

this post was submitted on 15 Sep 2023
614 points (97.4% liked)

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