
Beyond GDP [audio] - otp124
https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2018/08/23/641278187/beyond-gdp
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louwrentius
I don't give a fuck about GDP. We should be guided by quality of life.

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ur-whale
> We should be guided by quality of life.

Whatever that actually means. Your definition of quality of life is very
likely not mine and conversely.

I'd be very afraid to have a statistics office define what "quality of life"
means. It reeks of centralized planning.

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vertex-four
I mean, in nearly every country, there’s de facto already one that defines
quality of life as being equivalent to engagement in any activity which
increases the GDP of the country.

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fareesh
Without really addressing the substance of the article here:

It feels like everytime President Trump does something positively
statistically significant, there is an effort by the left wing media to
downplay its actual significance, and everytime there is an insignificant
detail, gaffe or incident from decades past, there is an effort to turn it
into a nationwide crisis.

Fox News did this with great success for 8 years. Disappointing to see others
(whom I had regarded as worthy of more respect than an partisan hacks), to
sink to this same level.

This narrative about GDP not really being a great indicator of anything
coincides very conveniently with the reported GDP numbers that were previously
touted as impossible by "experts".

I am quite confident that record (low) unemployment and GDP numbers like this
under a Democratic President would not be framed in this manner.

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sanxiyn
Agreed. GDP is an imperfect measure, but 2018 Q2 GDP growth figure (4.1%) is
nothing short of amazing.

~~~
dragonwriter
It would be amazing maintained over an extended period, but a brief 1-2
quarter peak at that level like in 2011 (1 @ 4.7%) or 2014 (2 @ 4.9%+) isn't
that amazing, and some leading indicators (e.g., business spending) are
already down.

And, since the end of the 2001 recession, even in good top-line growth
periods, the distributional statistics have sucked compared to previous
expansions.

