tejek, i didn't say the way of doing business didn't get modified to some degree - it did.
the productivity miracle, though, didn't exist.
you seem to already know the answers without doing any research, but for those interested, alan greenspan decided he didn't like the GDP numbers. he determined, unilaterally, that GDP growth should be higher than those being generated by the current math model.
so he changed the model.
for example, he determined that a computer add twice as many dollars to GDP if it was twice as fast - EVEN IF THE COMPUTER SOLD FOR THE SAME PRICE AS THE SLOWER COMPUTER.
this statistical lie inflated GDP and, voila, greenspan got his "productivity miracle." there were no more dollars in the economy, but it wasn't about reality, it was about phony accounting at its finest.
yes, the 90s were pretty nice. so was much of bush's administration.
CREDIT BUBBLES AND ASSET BUBBLES create lots of wealth for many folks - and they consider that "nice."
the problem is that *all* bubbles are unnatural and will pop, hence the problems we are having today.
it is as unwise to unlink today's problems with clinton's and bush's bubbles as it is to unlink one's hangover from the prior night's drinking binge.
the full cost of those "good ole days" has not been fully paid yet. in the end, i believe the disaster will cause much more pain than clinton's and bush's bubbles caused joy.
i hope i'm wrong. |
