Now at @[email protected]Feb 10, 2023

When a car is repaired after a crash, the GDP goes up.

When a fruit or vegetable is grown only to be thrown out by a supermarket as food waste, the GDP goes up.

When you replace a phone that still works because of planned obsolescence, the GDP goes up.

When you throw out a perfectly good coat because it's no longer fashionable, and buy a new one in this season's style, the GDP goes up.

When a bridge has to be replaced because it wasn't built right, the GDP goes up.

When a piece of packaging is manufactured only to be thrown away straight away, the GDP goes up.

When a site needs to be decontaminated because chemicals weren't stored correctly, the GDP goes up.

In each case, society has no more usable wealth than it would have had if the car didn't crash, the vegetable wasn't grown, the phone wasn't replaced, the old coat was still being worn, there was less packaging, or the chemicals were stored correctly. Yet the GDP goes up.

Meanwhile, most of the wealth that is generated ends up in the top one percent's pockets.

The truth is that GDP isn't a useful measurement. It's just a convenient one.

#economics #politics #gdp #auspol #ukpol

Show threadDaniel Lakeland
@ajsadauskas
GDP is useful, but highly flawed. I'd certainly want to live in a country with $50000 GDP/Capita over one with $1000. But it's entirely possible for a country with $20000 to be a generally better place to live than that $50000 example.
Feb 10, 2023 at 1:59pmWeb
Show threadKevin RussellFeb 10, 2023

@dlakelan @ajsadauskas

Finland is a place filled with joyous children and the happiest population on earth. It does not have the US GDP.

Show threadDaniel LakelandFeb 11, 2023

@kevinrns @ajsadauskas

Indeed, a very good example. There's no question that GDP of a country needs to be high enough that there are resources for people to have shelter, food, clothing, education, basic healthcare, transportation, etc... but once you've passed that barrier, how we allocate our income and what kinds of policies there are and who is able to capture the income through monopoly and etc matters more.

Show threadWade RobertsFeb 10, 2023

@dlakelan @ajsadauskas GDP can be a useful measurement tool, but should never be a predominant, let alone exclusive, aspiration or target.

No measure, especially myopically narrow instances like GDP, should be positioned as protected thought-terminating clichés.

And it should absolutely never be tolerated as a metering sphincter.