At 11:48 AM 3/22/01 -0500, you wrote:
> >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 03/22/01 10:56AM >>>
>Tom wrote:
> >No. Assuming the calculation is right, the $4.7 trillion would represent a
> >value that could never be realized because if investors tried to liquidate
> >their portfolios, prices would come down and they would "lose" the $4.7
> >trillion that they never had in the first place. Likewise, if everyone on
> >pen-l promised to given everyone else a million bucks, we'd all be
> >fabulously rich until we tried to spend it. The astonishing thing is not
> >the "wipe out" but the illusion that there was anything there to be wiped
> >out.
>
>the problem arises to the extent that the $4.7 trillion was perceived as
>real and used as collateral for loans, etc.
>
>((((((((((
>
>CB: Was it counted in GDP ?
No, the NASDAQ was not counted as part of GDP, because no real good or
service was being purchased (only promises). However, the brokers' salaries
and fees, other costs of that sort, were counted, since the brokers are
considered to be providing a "service." To the extent that promises are
printed on pieces of paper, they were counted (at the cost of printing).
Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine
