Don't Believe the GDP Hype
Don't Believe the GDP Hype
Also, a content poll and some housekeeping
While drinking my morning coffee and catching up on goings-on that I missed overnight, I came across this recent video from Tucker Carlson, which is well worth 13 minutes of your free time:
There’s a lot of great stuff in this speech, but one aspect that resonated with me is Tucker pointing out that nobody in DC is stating the obvious — or asking the obvious questions — and how that drives the divide between what the American people want and what Washington DC is delivering.
This reminded me of the recent GDP report showing the economy grew 4.9% in the latest quarter set against the stark reality of out-of-control prices. As is typical for the Biden administration, the president ignores reality, touts numbers out of manipulated reports, and claims the economy is going great:
And there’s no doubt a large section of the bought-off media is on board with pushing Biden’s economic fantasies, even against the overwhelming tide of real-world experience of real-world Americans. Check out this HuffPost article:
See, the economy is great — but people are so IRRATIONALLY negative that the only direction things could go is up. (The comment section of that article is refreshing, though. Even the Huffers are seeing straight.)
That economic despair you’re feeling? The rent you’re having a hard time paying? The groceries that you can no longer afford? That’s all IRRATIONAL negativity — this is ACKCHYUALLY the greatest economy ever!
All of which helps explain this data:
Other outlets admit that “Main Street” isn’t exactly as thrilled about the economy as Wall Street is. (Remember yesterday’s Ron Paul video? This is what he was talking about.)
Tucked into the above article, I saw this line:
Nearly half of the growth came from consumer spending.
That immediately sparked my suspicion, because one way to “artificially” bump GDP is to increase government spending — which is actually counted as a POSITIVE in the GDP calculation.
This means that if nothing changes from one quarter to another EXCEPT a trillion-dollar government project that uses robots to dig a hole and fill it in a million times, GDP will skyrocket — even though the money is just being wasted.
Can you think of any huge government expenditures lately that would fit that description?
Yeah, me neither.
But after a little digging, I eventually found what I was looking for — an actual number for increased government spending….one that explains a whole lot:
“Government spending and investment”
Last week I floated Arne’s idea of a feature in which multiple ‘Stackers volunteer to answer a common question. His idea was a huge hit (99% approval, like Biden after 3 AM on election day), and today we’ll start the process of choosing a question to answer in the premier “Screaming with the Community” feature!
Once we get a question hammered out, I’ll invite other ‘Stackers mentioned in the comments to join in to answer!
The poll doesn’t offer a whole lot of room, so I’ve divided the questions by general category you can vote for at the end. (I also had to axe a couple questions, as the poll maxes out at 5 choices. I’ll save these questions for another time.)
In the most populated bundle, we have questions regarding how to move forward in the future:
the plague era was lousy. things haven't gotten better--just a bit differently worser. how do we in actual practical ways reverse that?
How do we stop this? How do we hold those behind this accountable? How do we hold those who enforced this accountable?
What is the best path/strategies for changing the definition of patriot back to what it was when we were kids?
Best ways to become self sufficient and how we can really form communities that support each other.
What’s the most practical way forward toward restoring community, civic responsibility, integrity of the constitutional republic, and individual liberty to the American citizenry?
how to avoid the worst of what is likely coming, how to strategically fight back & survive when Vax & mask mandates come back, introduction of social credit scores, CBDC, “passports” for health & financial info, grid going down & the pillage that will come with that
Or more practical discussions such as how do you mentally survive these times?
Next up, are we seeing the result of incompetence or malfeasance?
do you think the pandemic was planned, incompetence, both, or another option.
You could do conspiracy theory vs incompetence on certain subjects.
Have we been herded into the Substack echo chamber (then censored elsewhere)?
"Have the dissidents been conveniently tucked into an echo chamber?"
What’s happened with Hollywood?
You could have people talk about Hollywood and how it's changed and what caused that.
Finally, how do we convince people to join “our” side?
What are the best/proven strategies for individuals to help wake people up?
Voting is open for a week, then we’ll start rounding up ‘Stackers who are interested in providing a response. Looking forward to seeing how this turns out!
We finish up today with little housekeeping. For a while now, I’ve had the comments section default to “show new” comments to increase visibility of newer posts once a conversation gets going. I’ve been pretty pleased with this, but moving forward I’ll be resetting “old” articles to “show top” comments — this way when somebody wanders in after the conversation has died down, I think they’ll be more likely to engage. This is a minor change most of you won’t notice, but I figure I’d throw it out in case somebody DID notice and was wondering.
That’s it for today’s article! Enjoy your weekend, Screamers!
Afraid of commitment? Buy me a coffee on Ko-fi — no subscription required!
just to remind everyone that, say, 55 years ago young people with only a hs education could manage to live at least a lower middle-class life.
in my first domestic bliss situation, i could cook a dinner for two with a dollar's worth of ingredients.
my monthly rent now is half of my annual salary back then. something might be wrong somewhere.
#1. "Best ways to become self sufficient and how we can really form communities that support each other." That. One way or another, this ship is headed for an iceberg. We have to know what we want to replace this rotting empire with, how to prepare, and what we can start building now.