@matrix You’re posting this meme because it’s retarded, right?
@parker @adalberht @matrix @natsock While I don't necessarily agree with everything in there, there's some really good points.

Someone recently was bringing up "muh GDP" when talking about immigration and how evil the PPC is.

Well, the GDP of China is 10 times what ours is, would you rather live in China or Canada?
@matrix @parker @natsock @adalberht I'm afraid not. GDP is measured as GDP. GDP per capita is measured as GDP per capita. They're called different things because they are different measurements.

Besides which, even if you take "GDP" as meaning "GDP per capita", not all GDP is created equal. Let's take two transactions: In one transaction, one million people buy or sell something for $1,000. In another, a bank is lent 500 million dollars by the government then pays it back. While technically they both result in $1B added to GDP, one results in meaningful economic activity, and the other results in no net change in anything. The same people exist in the economy so they have the same effect on per capita GDP, but just because money moves doesn't mean that movement is productive, particularly when you're talking about the government part of the equation.

@sj_zero @parker @natsock @adalberht Well yes, but you that doesn't mean you can just compare GDPs of two countries, which nobody does and you did.

@matrix @parker @natsock @adalberht I did specifically because of the point I was making -- GDP isn't magic. Just saying "But it'll make the GDP higher!" doesn't mean a thing is justified. The GDP is much higher in China, yet that doesn't mean it's a better place to live.

Shipping a bunch of poor people into the country so they can work for slave wages will increase the GDP, but that doesn't mean it'll make it a better place to live.

@parker
He makes a good point that GDP is a shit indicator, but the example he provides is also shit, because barter is shit and living in that village is still shit. It's just not as shit as it's GDP would lead you to believe.
@natsock @adalberht

@matrix @parker @natsock @adalberht

He makes a good point that GDP is a shit indicator

only the most autistic of neolibs needed to be told this though.

@parker @matrix @natsock @adalberht man, now I understand why people rag on luke smith so much

@matrix

>rising deaths of despair, loss of social capital, atomization, demographic replacement, gig economy, poor quality of life, alcohol and drug addiction, destroyed traditional families and community all across the developed world
>"b-b-b-but algerians make $1.50 an hour instead of $1 an hour"

This is your brain on capitalism
@heidegger14 @matrix
>purple blob is literal capitalist byproduct
wow what an own

@heidegger14
All of those are maybe the last 50-60 years.
And also :yes_nord:

@matrix

200 years ago, capitalism had already existed for over a century.
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