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Why "Gross Output" Is Way Better Than GDP At Telling Us How The Economy Is Doing
Free Market Central ^ | 2/8/2018 | Free Market Central

Posted on 02/08/2018 3:28:35 PM PST by sloop3

“Gross domestic product,” popularly known as GDP, measures spending on finished goods and services. GDP grew 2.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017 and is expected to grow far more in the first quarter of this year. But is GDP the best measure of economic activity?

(Excerpt) Read more at freemarketcentral.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Free Republic Policy/Q&A; Miscellaneous; Reference
KEYWORDS: economy; gdp; grossoutput; growth
Believe it or not, GDP was created by Keynesians and reflects an anti-business bias. Economist Mark Skousen explains that there's a better way to measure economic activity.
1 posted on 02/08/2018 3:28:35 PM PST by sloop3
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To: sloop3

And the BDI.


2 posted on 02/08/2018 3:44:58 PM PST by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: sloop3

Does Gross Output include Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, The Kardashians, Will and Grace, the Star Wars prequels and postquels, etc.?


3 posted on 02/08/2018 3:47:34 PM PST by who_would_fardels_bear
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To: sloop3
more accurate measure of total spending in the economy. It measures spending or sales at all stages of production.

The thing of it is if we keep offshoring there will be no gross output at all. That's is the trajectory the Free Traitors™ have us on.

4 posted on 02/08/2018 3:48:20 PM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn)
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To: sloop3

Didn’t read the article.

It’s coming from “Freemarketcentral”.
My guess “freetraitors”.

Gross output includes the value of all the parts you import and treats it as though you produced that here.


5 posted on 02/08/2018 3:48:33 PM PST by DannyTN
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To: central_va
The thing of it is if we keep offshoring there will be no gross output at all.

It looks like his calculation is intended to make things look much rosier than they are.

The way it looks to me, if a US retailer buys $100 of goods from China and marks them up to $101, he'd report $101 of output. The current GDP calculation only reports the $1 value added by the US retailer.

Further, it looks to me like if a manufacturer produces goods that they sell for $80 to a wholesaler, the wholesaler in turn sells to a retailer for $100, and the retailer sells to a consumer for $130, he'd report total output as $310 (the sum of $80 + $100 + $130). GDP correctly reports the output as $130 (the $80 produced by the manufacturer + the $20 value added by the wholesaler + the $30 value added by the retailer.

6 posted on 02/08/2018 4:50:29 PM PST by Wissa ("Accidents don't happen to people who take accidents as a personal insult." - Michael Corleone)
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To: Wissa

No country in history ever imported, retailed and warehoused itself to prosperity for all of its citizens. A successfull country has to make things, grow things and mine things.


7 posted on 02/08/2018 5:17:27 PM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn)
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To: central_va
No country in history ever imported, retailed and warehoused itself to prosperity for all of its citizens. A successfull country has to make things, grow things and mine things.

Retailers and wholesalers DO add value though. I don't want to have to make all my purchases directly from manufacturers, farmers, etc.

And actually, Venice, Pisa, Genoa and other Maritime Republics in the middle ages became incredibly wealthy as importer/exporters. Trade was their primary means of generating wealth. A modern-day equivalent would probably be something like Hong Kong. What they manufacture, grow, or mine is a miniscule part of their total wealth produced each year.

8 posted on 02/08/2018 5:38:17 PM PST by Wissa ("Accidents don't happen to people who take accidents as a personal insult." - Michael Corleone)
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To: Wissa

Oh come on give me a break. The USA is on track to become a 3rd world import nation. You are comparing city states to a nation of 330 million? Really? What poppy cock. You are not going to sustain a military on trade alone. You cannot win a war of attrition without an industrial base. The USA used to be the arsenal of democracy. Thanks to Free Traitors™ and a corrupt system of tariffs where we charge nothing and other countries gouge us the USA will become the warehouse of democracy.


9 posted on 02/08/2018 5:48:32 PM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn)
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To: central_va

GDP includes government spending, in other words, the gov can theoretically spend enough to keep a recession from happening, well, not from happening, from being labeled a recession. Case in point, Obama


10 posted on 02/09/2018 8:41:24 AM PST by nobamanomore
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