Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Kapture1]

[drok]

Hack: that chart of the size of various economies with China leading way wrong. China has about an $ 11.5 Trillion GDP and the US has a $ 19.5 T GDP. How do they come up with $23T?

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/022415/worlds-top-10-economies.asp

Note also that Canada has replaced Russia as the 10th largest economy.

Also, in reading the article, notice the hockey-stick beginning in about 1800 measuring the welfare of people in general. Corresponds nicely to the advent and dominance of capitalism and markets as an economic system.

From the article that YOU posted, it literally explains how China has $23T GDP:

"1. United States

The U.S. economy remains the largest in the world in terms of nominal GDP. The $19.42 trillion U.S. economy is 25% of the gross world product. The United States is an economic superpower that is highly advanced in terms of technology and infrastructure and has abundant natural resources. However, the U.S. economy loses its spot as the number one economy to China when measured in terms of GDP based on PPP. In these terms, China?s GDP is $23.19 trillion exceeds the U.S. GDP of $19.42 trillion. However, the U.S. is way ahead of China in terms of*GDP per capita*in nominal terms as well as PPP; GDP per capita (PPP) for the U.S. economy is approximately $59,609 versus $16,676 in China. In nominal terms, China?s GDP per capita further falls to $8,480."

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[Jeff Buchanan]

Thanks for that, Drok .......

[Jeff Buchanan]

I've stumbled across a couple of good foreign policy articles in my news feeds during the last two weeks. I'd say its a good bet that the meat of these are coming from information/ideas/interviews with disgruntled current and former State people.

There are points in this article linked below that I think get to the heart of the risks, complex as they are and as difficult to understand as they should be, of the direction the Trump administration appears to be taking the United States.

I think there are good arguments on both sides of the debate regarding the US role in the world. This article does a good job in defining what both sides are all about while being subtly critical of Trump's America First policies carried into the complex world of international relations.

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/12/america-abidcation-trump-foreign-policy/549296/

[THE_WIZARD_]

shaddup

[hack]

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-10-18/who-has-the-world-s-no-1-economy-not-the-u-s

Further explanatory material on PPP and other ways to measure this.

[THE_WIZARD_]

You down with PPP...yeah you know me...

[hack]

Also, in reading the article, notice the hockey-stick beginning in about 1800 measuring the welfare of people in general. Corresponds nicely to the advent and dominance of capitalism and markets as an economic system.

Capitalism's been great. I hope it will continue to be great. The great gains in wealth and health and quality of life since 1800 have come under capitalism, but the ball got rolling in a period in which capital did not flow so freely across borders, and financial engineering and tax havens weren't a thing yet. Capital had no better place to go than to investments in the real economy. Capital is hardly interested in that sort of thing anymore. This is basic Ayn Rand here. She hated bankers; loved manufacturers. The capitalism of today is a system ridden with loopholes and bears less resemblance to Smith and the invisible hand than it once did. We've commercialized things Smith did not believe the invisible hand could guide. Capitalism has relied on corrections over the years, such as revolutions and organized labour, to moderate the rough edges and inject sustainability. The sooner we get one of those corrections, the brighter and longer the future for capitalism. Having said that, this is the third of fourth time you've said something just like that, and I've given you the same reply. It's the same as the ``do you believe man is inherently evil?" question you ask every "prog" you encounter here. You keep asking and asking litmus-test questions, and you get the answers time and again. But you never seem to learn from those answers, understand more about the perspective of the people you're interacting with, and reflect that in future posts.

[THE_WIZARD_]

The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind.

[hack]

Seductively simple approach. (For most of us, that is. For you this is very complex material. Contains multiple Very Long Sentences.)

[THE_WIZARD_]

Get right with Gordon Gecko...dumbass...

[hack]

I hear that was what Adam Smith REALLY wanted to title his book, but the damn liberal-elite big-city publisher insisted on something else.

[THE_WIZARD_]

...yes...true...he posted it on the internet...

[Da Geezer]

Hack: GDP is not measured using PPP. GDP as used in Economics is the amount of goods and services that a country produces in dollars. The articles you posted show the primary problem with PPP is that it doesn't adjust for quality, exchange rates, or governmental interference in the market

For example, Bloomberg suggests that the same phone that sells in the US for $ 400.00 may sell in China for $ 200.00. Why then doesn't an American import the Chinese phone to the US and sell it for the $ 400? Again, viewed differently, would you rather have an identical phone in the US or in China? The US of course because of the infrastructure and, most importantly, because you are free to basically do what you want and read and write what you want. In this case, the US phone is worth double the Chinese phone

PPP gives an inaccurate picture of "product" because of government regulations and manipulation of currency. China has historically manipulated its currency so that it has the lowest valued currency of any major producer because this helps exports. Trump made an issue of that during the campaign if you recall.

[THE_WIZARD_]

hack...who do you think could win a cage match...Adam Smith or Karl Marx?