Mattick: >It’s also worth remembering that the GDP growth rate is an artificial >construction. For example, since economic theory assumes that everyone who >receives money is being paid for some service or good that has been produced, >whenever someone from Goldman Sachs gets a bonus, that appears as part of the >growth figures. If you give Lloyd Blankfein a $35 million bonus, it’s assumed >that he has performed $35 million worth of services. The truth is that the >growth rates are increasingly a measure of activity in the financial sector, >so even today, all this remains completely imaginary.<
it's true that GDP growth is an "artificial construction." But it's a measure of activity in capitalist goods and services markets, i.e., a measure of the flow of spending, income, and business revenues. It may be wasted on Blankfein _et al_, but it's like Keynes' example of building unneeded pyramids (not like the ones in Memphis, TN or Long Beach, CA ;-) ). It is a measure of health of a commodity-producing and capitalist economy; it's not a measure of what's good for people or Nature. On Sat, Jun 11, 2011 at 5:53 AM, Louis Proyect <[email protected]> wrote: > Interview with Paul Mattick Jr. > > http://www.brooklynrail.org/2011/06/express/the-economic-crisis-in-fact-and-fictionpaul-mattick-with-john-clegg-and-aaron-benanav > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > -- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
