sj_zero on Nostr: With all the layoffs in government this year (up to 1 million, they're saying) the US ...
With all the layoffs in government this year (up to 1 million, they're saying) the US is on track to potentially be in recession this year.
Which is one of those things that hides the real story. If you're 500lbs and cut your number of calories you'll feel terrible -- at first. But as your body shrinks, you suddenly find it easier to move. You find you have more energy. You find you can do all kinds of things physically you could never do before. Eventually, you feel better than you ever have in your life, and you'd never want to go back.
GDP is a bit deceptive because it incorporates private industry, exports, and government. If you ever want the GDP to go up then, you just take out a bunch of debt and spend a bunch of government money. Doesn't do anything, and in fact all these totally unproductive people remove people and goods from the productive economy, but number went up!
I guess I can't completely assume every government job is wasteful -- I like not getting murdered by criminals, and not eating food that's going to kill me, and being able to drive to the next town over is important -- but we're finding things like teaching gender studies to the Taliban, or paying intelligence operatives to talk about how much they like peeing on people. That's not a productive use of money.
Which is one of those things that hides the real story. If you're 500lbs and cut your number of calories you'll feel terrible -- at first. But as your body shrinks, you suddenly find it easier to move. You find you have more energy. You find you can do all kinds of things physically you could never do before. Eventually, you feel better than you ever have in your life, and you'd never want to go back.
GDP is a bit deceptive because it incorporates private industry, exports, and government. If you ever want the GDP to go up then, you just take out a bunch of debt and spend a bunch of government money. Doesn't do anything, and in fact all these totally unproductive people remove people and goods from the productive economy, but number went up!
I guess I can't completely assume every government job is wasteful -- I like not getting murdered by criminals, and not eating food that's going to kill me, and being able to drive to the next town over is important -- but we're finding things like teaching gender studies to the Taliban, or paying intelligence operatives to talk about how much they like peeing on people. That's not a productive use of money.