>Charles Brown wrote:
>>GDP is used to hoodwink the people.
GDP is a poor measure of what's good for people. For this kind of thing, we
need something like the Genuine Progress Indicator.
But I don't think people care about the GDP at all. It's just another
abstraction, something far from anyone's experience (except for those who
still have nightmares about taking intro macroeconomics from people like
me). I don't think the person on the street even blinks at the the sight of
a headline saying the GDP went up by such-and-such percent last quarter.
Therefore they can't be "hoodwinked" by it.
Even though it doesn't fit with peoples' experience, GDP isn't irrelevant.
GDP statistics do correlate with people's experience. With the rapid growth
of real GDP in recent years, unemployment rates have fallen. (After all, it
the capitalists and their government that provide most of the jobs.) Yes, I
am familiar with the many limitations of the official unemployment rates.
But when official unemployment falls, so does unofficial unemployment (the
number of discouraged workers, etc.), as Baran & Sweezy pointed out many
years ago (in MONOPOLY CAPITAL). Falling unemployment means that it's
becoming easier to get a job, which is quite important to all but the
independently wealthy. It's true that many people are working _too hard_ or
_too many hours per year_ to make ends meet since real wages have generally
stagnated (except the last couple of years). Jobs are very insecure these
days, too. But nowadays we all need jobs with a vengeance, especially given
the rise of consumer debt and the fact that it's hard to get good health
insurance without a job. Welfare reform also has fed this job hunger.
During the last couple of years, not only has the rise of GDP implied a
fall in unemployment (so that many of those without the right skills are
getting jobs), but there's been a cyclical upswing in real wages.
It might be said, however, that this rise in GDP is "hoodwinking" people.
The economic boom is built on rising private-sector debt, while unlike the
U.S. government, people and companies in the private sector can go
bankrupt. Further, the boom is fragile since it's encouraging rising U.S.
external debt and rising interest payments to the rest of the world.
Finally, a lot of it is based on environmental destruction. So this boom is
unlikely to last. Perhaps when it stops, people will see the nature of the
capitalist system more clearly, being hoodwinked no longer. Or maybe
they'll vote for Buchanan.
Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://liberalarts.lmu.edu/~jdevine
