"But it's a measure of activity in capitalist goods and services markets..."
Not quite, Jim, if you acknowledge Simon Kuznets's 1947 critique of the Commerce Department's construction of National Income and Product Account. It is a measure that double counts entries as they siphon through the government revenue/expenditure tank. "National Income: A New Version," <http://www.jstor.org/pss/1926746> Simon Kuznets, *The Review of Economics and Statistics*, Volume XXX, Number 3, August 1948. See especially pages 155-160. On Sat, Jun 11, 2011 at 9:37 AM, Jim Devine <[email protected]> wrote: > 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 > -- Sandwichman
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