Thanks for the info. Never new why when gnp used to be universal. Figures it would be political- kinda like the changes in inflation measurement.
Yes, LBJ was the first to “massage” inflation statistics. GDP is net after inflation. So if you can reduce the inflation number, GDP looks bigger than it really is. An honest person should actually quote GDP per person. Naturally if your population has grown 3% and absolute GDP is up 3%, you are actually not ahead of the game. So there are really 2 pieces of deception there - manipulated inflation rates, and highlighting the GDP overall percentage rather than per capita. Wall Street will ALWAYS focus on what turns their bread and butter, keeping people in the market, so they will never discuss GDP per capita.