jerry,
Re: Please make the numbers go away...please.
There has been a reliable feature of these GDP numbers for the past couple of years. Quietly, a month or two after the headlines are ballyhooed, the numbers are revised downward.
Not only that, but the problem with hedonics is becoming more acute all the time. At present, I believe that hedonics is yielding a $15,000 boost to GDP for every $1,000 worth of computer hardware that is sold. This eventually adds up to some very dubious numbers.
Additionally, you mustn't forget the imputed income from "real estate owned". The solons who conjure up the GDP numbers out of a mystical world beyond the realm of reality impute a gain to GDP amounting to some billions of dollars because homeowners, real homeowners who aren't making payments, are miraculously imputed to be doing just that, and adding to GDP.
It's a wonderful world, this world of GDP fantasy. But it ain't real. |
