GDP isn’t inherently a useful measure for this though.
If I pay you 100$ to eat a dog turd, then you pay me 100$ to eat the next dog turd we see. We created 200$ worth of GDP and ate two dog turds. Yet neither of us profited in any way.
If you’re into watching someone eat a turd and are willing to pay 100$ for it, then a service worth 100$ was provided in each instance.
But on a more serious note, this argument applies to the GDP in general – it’s not a measure of how happy, how wealthy, or how productive the people of a given nation are. Yet, continuous growth (measured by GDP) seems to have the highest priority among so-called conservatives and neoliberals. At the same time, they’re mad at poor people for increasing the GDP with government aid and don’t see the irony.
GDP isn’t inherently a useful measure for this though. If I pay you 100$ to eat a dog turd, then you pay me 100$ to eat the next dog turd we see. We created 200$ worth of GDP and ate two dog turds. Yet neither of us profited in any way.
If you’re into watching someone eat a turd and are willing to pay 100$ for it, then a service worth 100$ was provided in each instance.
But on a more serious note, this argument applies to the GDP in general – it’s not a measure of how happy, how wealthy, or how productive the people of a given nation are. Yet, continuous growth (measured by GDP) seems to have the highest priority among so-called conservatives and neoliberals. At the same time, they’re mad at poor people for increasing the GDP with government aid and don’t see the irony.