It's the Twilight Zone economy.
LOL. Now I know where you get your brilliant economic insights, but this line was even better:
"Since humans don't seem to be making all this stuff, you are probably thinking that it is being made by aliens from outer space working secretly in our factories during the graveyard shifts," he said in his forecast.
This one is the most telling, though:
"GDP is meant to be a measure of stuff we produce in this country," he said. Of the latest quarterly GDP report, he added: "I don't believe it."
He knows what GDP measures and he knows it's showing strong growth, but he simply refuses to accept it.
Lizzie, pop your head out of California once in a while - and I don't mean "virtually", wandering to some South African news site to find some doubting thomas UCLA b-school prof quoted. Your parochial perspective is preventing you from escaping the Twilight Zone.
American companies are selling stuff, but they are not 1) designing it here, 2) building it here, 3) selling it here. That means this money is not being distributed in our economy.
You make a good parrot. Prof. Rod Serling tells you "The strength was in consumer durables, consumer nondurables, and business equipment - all material stuff," but that "Factory workers aren't making them, the factory sector isn't producing them, and delivery men aren't bringing them..."
Well, he at least read the GDP report - as I posted to AS last night, those were the big areas of strength. But then you and he simply deny the only possible conclusion from these facts. Lizzie, what you and he are doing is called "slothful induction."
Of course they are "designing it here" and "building it here" - that's what "gross domestic product" measures. As for "selling it here", well, exports did grow much faster than imports in Q3, which IS a good thing, but they ARE also "selling it here." Again, personal consumption expenditures (your 70%-80% "not participating") were up 6.4% (durables +26.5%) and business investment in equipment and software was up 18.4%, faster growth than in the peak bubble quarter you consider the "good old days". What, Lizzie, are consumption and investment spending if someone is not "selling it here"?
Come out of your personal Twilight Zone, Lizzie. |
