Comments on: GDP First Look: We’re At Trend…We Need to Be Above Trend http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/gdp-first-look-were-at-trend-we-need-to-be-above-trend/ Facts, Thoughts, and Commentary Wed, 19 Jun 2013 01:28:38 +0000 hourly 1 By: Fred Donaldson http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/gdp-first-look-were-at-trend-we-need-to-be-above-trend/#comment-159978 Fred Donaldson Sat, 28 Apr 2012 15:20:41 +0000 http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/?p=4931#comment-159978 GDP includes many things, including launching 200-foot impress-the-buddies’ yachts, production of billion buck bombers that end up in rust piles, and lawyer fees for merging companies to produce monopolies that then fleece consumers.

GDP may be a fascination for chamber of commerce types, but certainly can’t be a measure of the American Dream.

Has mean individual income increased in the quarter? Has the poverty rate lowered, employment total increased, education test scores risen? Were more roads built, bridges repaired, public transit enhanced? Are pensions higher, home prices moved up and not down, average work hours decreased as compensation stayed the same or grew?

Someday, we will all start focusing on the real economy – the state of the people of this country and their public welfare and public wealth.

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