Companies use them all of the time to make what they do look better. As in we're going to add such and such to the new jobs roles. But then what they don't always tell you is all of the other numbers that would put this one, isolated number, in a more understandable context. As in what they have also decided to lay off in an equivalent time period, so that the ultimate end result might actually be a net loss of jobs.
And nowhere is this game played more fast and lose than with the American economy.
They throw out a number representing total economic output, which from one period to the next might show an increase, without any perspective at all as to what is actually going on. And that is critical right now because we really must pay attention to the finer details if we are going to survive as a species.
Certainly more money is being made but made for what, from what? And how can you say this more money actually makes America stronger when so much of it does not end up helping the country at all. For instance:
1. How much is due to the increase of "Crunching Numbers Just To Get More Numbers," as I have been talking about with the way money now demands that it be treated just like electrons in electrical circuits; always seeking the path of least resistance. We saw this starting with algorithm controlled commodities trading (or simply having your servers be a few light seconds closer to an exchange than the other guys), and now we see it more and more in bitcoin currencies, and certainly gaming software in general, as well as the holy grail of VR. What actual strength does our nation get from this kind of money making?
2. How much is due to the increase in rebuilding from various sorts of destruction? And in this, certainly, you would have to include the ever increasing bills, that us taxpayers are paying (because our supposed betters are too good to be taxed for the needs of the many), to deal with the extreme everything that Capitalism has left us with, because it has never been able to pay the full life cycle costs of any of its "products."
Tornados. Hurricanes. Firestorms on a whole new level. Flooding on a whole new level. And the worst thing is: heaven help us if the severe weather stops altogether, because that will mean the ice at the poles is gone and we've rolled the dice to see how bad all of our planet's circulation systems are devastated. But that, dear reader, is not the end of the destruction bill we pay.
In this also must we put all of the costs of our wars for they certainly do not, necessarily, make us any stronger at all. Just consider the ever increasing costs of our drug war, because, at the very bottom line, addiction is now part and parcel of Capitalism. Or what about the insane war on Communism that devastated the politics of so many nations to the South of us?
And finally 3: How much of all this new money being made, on top of an unbelievable cash giveaway to Big Money, is actually allowed to to trickle back to us? The people still having to run harder each year just to not fall behind anymore than last year? Not anything even close to the insane sums our supposed betters seem to feel is their divine right.
So the question I ask again is: When will the American people stop being suckers for the "Big Number." How many times are you going to let yourselves be fooled by this BS?
As always, time will tell I guess.
See Also:
[Post Note: I didn't mention, of course, the cost we pay for all of the waste that that this most inefficient economic system generates. Waste at every turn. Too much packaging. Too much effort wasted on BS marketing. Too much transportation involved in doing pretty much everything. And in that, certainly, is also the inefficiency of what we have in place to provide for critical social logistics.
Sadder still, though, is the fact that, much of America isn't being served at all any more my much of any critical social logistics. And much of that comes from the lack of leadership in not making critical infrastructure in general a top priority, always. But of course, as well, is the fact that, if the only thing your Demented Clown Car of an Administration can do, in terms of multitasking, is screwing up, what chance do such deprived parts of the country have? And this, on top of what we already have with Capitalist, Market thinking, with it making our choices for us as to when a community itself stops having value, even though there are capable working people there who could work, if just given the chance. And we didn't have to worry about an obsolete money system in the first place. You know, the same one responsible for all of the dangerous competitions that are making our demise ever more possible.
When will you see through this farce? When will you wake up to its ultimate, destructive absurdity? J.V.]
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