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"We have the world's Strongest Economy"! If you're getting tired of hearing 'liberals' say that, then just ask them the following questions:
Compared to the Japanese GDP (rumors of whose economic death have been greatly exaggerated, and whose personal savings are light years of the US), US GDP in dollars, yen, and gold is higher. But when measured by productivity per worker, Japan pulled way ahead of us in 1987 and has been way ahead ever since.
Provide Your Thoughts Here
Total output in Japan in 1997 was the equivalent of $9,759 billion dollars, 18% higher than the US. But manufacturing was 35% of Japan's GDP while it was only 17% of ours. As a percent of GDP, construction in Japan was 2 1/2 times higher than ours (10% vs. 4.1%), and savings in Japan were infinitely higher than ours (15% of GDP versus zero in the US). We spent more of GDP for services (21% versus 16%), mining (1.5% versus .2%), wholesale and retail trade (16% versus 10%), real estate 11% versus 8%), services (21% versus 16%), and government (13% versus 6%). If we spent proportionately no more for government than Japan does, it would cost us half a trillion per year less which would enable Americans to have Personal Savings again.
Wednesday, November 27, 2002 9:04 PM Subject: Broken Windows In his classic Economics in One Lesson, Henry Hazlitt illustrates the difference between mere economic activity and real wealth creation. Breaking a window creates economic activity. After all, one has to buy a new window and have it installed. But does it add to the net wealth of the society? No. It merely redistributes wealth from one person to another. Yet that little transaction is added to the GDP for the year, which means that if a lot of windows get broken, the government and the newpapers will report substantial economic "growth." After WWII Germany and Japan had phenomenal economic growth rates. But only because they had to replace lots of broken windows, and a whole lot more. Without the war, the Germans and the Japanese would be far richer than they are today, even if they had been far less diligent since 1945. Perhaps we should speed up the US economy by fire-bombing a few of our own cities. (Actually, that might increase real wealth--but only because of the high concentration of social parasites in inner cities.) The following from FAEM indicates that the broken window theory of economic "growth" is alive and well in the USA. How much of the economic boom of the Clinton years was merely frenzied--and, to some, highly profitable--social breakdown? A sort of Saint Vitus Dance before the final collapse? Answering that question would be a really interesting research project. Subject: 25 November 2002 -- Maguire A reader who just wrote to FAEM (see A Ventilation in the Letters folder) agreed with what all three of us have been continually stating at various times. Namely, the 'economy' is in a real long term decline and has been for a long time. I think subsequent generations historically will mark the end of the Apollo moon program as the 'Crossover' marking peak and subsequent decline of the USA as a civilization. This fact is concealed by a variety of reporting devices and tricks. The sum total of these lead the unalert into the comparison of apples and oranges. After making these false comparisons our Judeo neo-conned Republicans conclude that Jewish economics are progressively leading them forward into the Millennium. Here are some of the leading factors leading to the vanishing but still widespread false image: 1. A controlled media. For a long time now what passes for economic reporting and analysis has increasingly resembled Soviet economic statistics. Stories not fitting the need, such as the disappearance of grain reserves, are simply not reported widely. I said, almost two years ago during the California energy crisis, that there would be a wave of 'surprise' collapses as we subsequently saw with Enron, Worldcom, Global Crossing and many others. In plainer words, 'They' were lying to you (and still are). Who 'They' are is often subject to intense debate. FAEM typically includes racial factors among its assessment of 'They'. 2. Economic 'measurement' of previously uncounted or illegal activities. This has been a key method of perpetuating the illusion of endless 'growth'. Sex. Quite a bit of what's reported today as "Gross Domestic Product" was listed in the Police Report section of the newspaper in bygone eras. This includes pornography, 'escort services' that accept Visa, Mastercard and Discover, 'massage parlors' and strip clubs. The idea that a whorehouse society is a post-industrial substitute for real industries is an illusion. Gambling. Here's another formerly and largely illegal activity that is now reported by the Department of Commerce as 'economic growth' and listed on the the New York Stock Exchange. Over 22 states have legalized casinos, not counting Indian reservations in non-spinning states. Then there's the lottery and pari-mutuel gambling on horses and dogs. This 'industry' depends for profit solely on people's incorrect understanding of statistics. The 'profit' is generated by divesting tens of thousands of trade-level competent personnel to shuffling cards and tossing dice. None of this adds to available goods and services that can either sustain or enhance the life, such as the life of the next generation. Economic Speculation. This is gambling that is based upon economic activity, rather than the speed of a particular horse or dog down at the track. The velocity of turnover of shares and derivative 'securities' continues to hit new highs. That is, holding periods are progressively shorter and shorter. This activity of itself also adds nothing although the repetitively counted gross numbers work their way into the GDP down the line. Recycling the ownership of an apple 28 times a day does not of itself increase the available number of apples. Old age care. Previously a responsibility of the larger family, this also has been largely offloaded onto government budgets, private insurance plans and nursing homes. This is all duly reported as 'economic activity'. Uncounted inflation. The Department of Commerce, the Department of Labor and Uncle Al over at the Fed are notorious for both excluding some economic measurements and inverting others. It remains a mystery to me why anyone regards a doubling in housing prices, combined with a decline in quality and durability of materials, as 'growth'. I agree it's good news for the mortgage shylocks. How this benefits the average white family escapes me. The 'Security' Industry. We speak here of the vast private armies of security guards, alarm systems and other technologies used to defend against larger and larger numbers of criminally minded individuals. These persons' growth rate far exceeds the growth rate of the general population. In former eras 'military' or 'security' spending was considered to detract from the total of capital and consumer goods available. At the current time this is not happening because all of this social war spending is being quantified with the remaining productive industries in the 'private' sector. The real decrease in quality of life resulting from this shift in resources is real, if unquantified. "Law" and other illusory therapies. Another huge share of resources are consumed by the operators of the legal system, plus megatons of 'therapists' specializing in 'therapies' of dubious or non-existent scientific basis. Child Care. Concentration camps for young white children has been another strong growth industry of recent decades. These are typically called "day care centers" and duly add their "output" to the increasingly Gross ZOG National Product. Many other examples could be adduced but the above are sufficient. It's a lot later than many of you think.
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Modified Wednesday, August 08, 2007 Copyright @ 2007 by Fathers' Manifesto & Christian Party
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