Ten Great Things About The American Economy That Everyone Should All Be Thankful For
BUSINESS INSIDER -- "As tough macroeconomic headlines lead the S&P lower and political polemic turns the capital into K-Street, we thought it time to take a moment to appreciate all the good accomplished in the U.S. Pundits are quick to point to how the U.S. has fallen behind in innovation, but that's not what we see.
We see a resilient people, continuing to create new markets and products. We see regulations that allow businesses to operate more efficiently than in nearly any other country in the world.
But that's not all we see. Here are the ten great things about the American economy that we should all be thankful for."
1 Comments:
The article excerpt below suggests for about a thousand years after the fall of the Roman Empire, world GDP was stagnant (i.e. in the Dark Ages).
We should be thankful for much higher living standards today:
"The material standard of living in the United States from 1820 to 1998:
Over this period of 178 years real GDP per capita increased 21.7 fold, or an average of 1.73 percent per year.
Although the evidence available to estimate GDP directly is meager, this rate of increase was probably many times higher than experienced during the colonial period.
This conclusion is justified by considering the implications of extrapolating the level observed in 1820 ($1,257) backward in time at the growth rate measured since 1820 (1.73 percent).
Under this supposition, real per capita GDP would have doubled every forty years (halved every forty years going backward in time) and so by the mid 1700s there would have been insufficient income to support life.
Because the cheapest diet able to sustain good health would have cost nearly $500 per year."
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