GDP only measures a small part of economic success. Some really important aspects are ignored. Take sustainability, for example. It's absurd that a country can have high growth rates because it has a lot of polluting industry. The quality of the air, health, progress made by women, child care and social cohesion -- these are all important economic factors. GDP does not show how innovative an economy is. Nor does it show if the products being produced will be successful in the long run or will be out of fashion tomorrow. But, up to now, there has not been a substitute for GDP.
in the time remaining, to help us understand how the man-made system of capitalism will lead to the extinction of our human species, and so many others.
Friday, March 26, 2010
'Even War Is Good for Economic Growth'
an interview with Noreena Hertz from Der Spiegel. It surprised me to see this article posted until I realized that the interviewee was only asking for a kinder, gentler form of capitalism--what she calls "cooperative capitalism"--an oxymoron if I've ever heard of one. Still she makes some cogent remarks about the existing economic system.