Economics
Gross Domestic Product
Preface

 

John Junor. An ounce of emotion is equal to a ton of facts.

Paul Brodeur. Statistics are human beings with the tears wiped off.

Junor and Brodeur disparage facts and statistics. They must be Progressives (aka, radical anti-capitalists).

We conservatives feel and cry, too, but facts and statistics are our friends, as is reality.

Progressives say they care about individual human beings, particularly the poor. Their solution to poverty? Legalize what a criminal (the government) who robs (taxes) a 7-11 (the rich) does: Confiscate someone else's private property, and income-redistribute that wealth to the poor. The more extreme the Progressive, the more passionate the lust to confiscate.

Since you Progressives ‘care’, I offer a modest proposal. Once a week, invite a few homeless into your abode, and let them take whatever they need -- within reason, of course; your 84” plasma TV is off-limits -- to help mitigate their poverty. If the taking involves your grandma's heirloom jewelry, so be it. After all, shouldn't charity literally begin at home?

Oh, it's someone else's private property that you Progressives want confiscated? Sorry. I misunderstood.

Of course, government must tax, and use those revenues wisely to help the poor, but, counterintuitively to Progressives, there is a point at which increased taxation increases poverty.

This truth is not counterintuitive to conservatives. We know that the private sector eliminates poverty far better than government does, and that excessive taxation cripples the private sector's ability to do so.

Am I loco? No. A simple case study of illegal immigration affirms the cogency of my POV.

Whacko illegal immigration Web sites abound. Not among them is the Pew Hispanic Center funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Time out. I've just bestowed credibility and gravitas on a specific organization. You should ask: Are the Pew Trusts mainstream? Are my judgments fatally compromised by my conservative bias? Well, we can vet the Pew Trusts by citing another organization it funds.

The Pew Center on Global Climate Change should warm the cockles of every Progressive's empathically-beating heart, and further chill the tombstone that is every conservative's already stone-cold heart. On their Basic Science Web page, the Pew Center states:

The earth is warming. Temperatures at the Earth's surface increased by an estimated 1.4°F (0.8°C) between 1900 and 2005…

The growing scientific consensus is that this warming is largely the result of emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from human activities including industrial processes, fossil fuel combustion, and changes in land use, such as deforestation…

Unaddressed, climate change will have significant impacts across the United States and around the world. For instance, sea-level rise will add to stresses coastal communities are already facing, including erosion, storms, and pressures from development. In the arid and semi-arid western United States, relatively modest changes in precipitation can have large impacts on already limited water supplies. Terrestrial, freshwater, and coastal ecosystems of the United States are particularly sensitive to climate change, threatening biodiversity and ecosystem goods and services such as fisheries and recreation. Even human health may be threatened as heat waves, extreme weather, and vector-borne diseases become more prevalent…

Even if we are able to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, some further warming is unavoidable. We must plan and take action now to adapt to the changes we will face as our climate changes.

If the above is not tumescent, engorged, and palpitating mainstream-to-left-of-center, what is?

Now citing the Pew Hispanic Center:

    7 March 2006 Size and Characteristics of the Unauthorized Migrant Population in the U.S.

Analysis of the March 2005 Current Population Survey shows that there were 11.1 million unauthorized migrants in the United States a year ago. Based on analysis of other data sources that offer indications of the pace of growth in the foreign-born population, the Center developed an estimate of 11.5 to 12 million for the unauthorized population as of March 2006.

    27 September 2005 Rise, Peak and Decline: Trends in U.S. Immigration 1992 - 2004

The number of migrants coming to the United States each year, legally and illegally, grew very rapidly starting in the mid-1990s, hit a peak at the end of the decade, and then declined substantially after 2001…

From the early 1990s through the middle of the decade, slightly more than 1.1 million migrants came to the United States every year on average. In the peak years of 1999 and 2000, the annual inflow was about 35% higher, topping 1.5 million. By 2002 and 2003, the number coming to the country was back around the 1.1 million mark…

In 2004, migration bounced back to exceed 1.2 million (per year).

    Home Page, “Hispanic Trends 2005” box in lower right-hand corner

Percent in Poverty (2004): 22.5%

Thus, 77.5% of 11.5 million illegals -- the lower estimate -- are not poverty-stricken:

12,000,000 X .775 = 8,912,500

No spoon feeding here. Answer these questions for yourself:

    How many of these 8,912,500 illegals were in poverty, abject or otherwise, before they entered the US?

    How many of these 8,912,500 illegals elevated themselves from poverty by relying upon government programs specifically enacted to address illegal immigrant poverty?

    How many of these 8,912,500 illegals elevated themselves from poverty by finding work in the private sector?

My take is simple: If the US economy continues to be as robust as it is wont to be when taxes are low, then the US economy can continue accommodating 1.2 million new illegals every year, can continue elevating a preponderant majority of these illegals from poverty, and can do so all by its lonesome.

Of course, my POV presupposes facts not in evidence. As a necessary foundation, I've written this treatise on GDP, separated into 7 individual documents:

1)   Introduction. What this treatise on GDP is.

2)   Overview. A general discussion of GDP.

3)   Methodology. Data sources and methods.

4)   Terminology. A detailed discussion of GDP.

5)   Charts. Capitalism bests socialism.

6)   Other Comparisons. Other intriguing charts and tables.

7)   Conclusions. More reality for your peremptory dismissal, Progressives.

Be not concerned. I'm anti-academic (ie, no turgid obscurities here), and pro-arithmetic (ie, if the math is not reducible to elementary-school-level, or to a simple Microsoft Excel S/S formula, then the math is a turgid obscurity).

I'm also pro-objectivity. All sites I cite are mainstream, and not ideologically-biased conservative. Since reality does not vet Progressivism, why deal with anything but reality?

Navigation

Ease of site navigation is maximal:

1)   There is a single, primary, and uniform navigation menu displayed at the top of each separate document/Web page. Using it, you can directly link to:

a)   Any other document;

b)   Any bookmark (ie, HTML headings: <h1>, <h2>, <h3>) within any document;

b)   Any GDP chart; or

d)   Any GDP table.

2)   There are backwards and forwards navigation arrows at the top and bottom of each document. Clicking these arrows links you to the previous and next document in sequence.

3)   There are 6 separate documents that display the 22 centerpiece GDP/GNI charts. Each document has backwards and forwards sub-navigation arrows that allow you to link to the previous and next set of charts.

Profuse thanks to Ger Versluis for the navigation menu, available on the Dynamic Drive Web site as HV Menu.

The navigation menu is more than a menu:

    It is a Table of Contents.

Any menu item with either a downwards or right pointer indicates that the menu item expands. Moving the mouse pointer over that menu item expands it.

All headings in all documents have an associated “bookmarks” menu item. Perusing these bookmarks essentially displays a Table of Contents, and does so lightning-quick.

    It is Appendices.

If a document contains charts or tables, it has associated “charts” or “tables” menu items. Essentially, these menu items are Appendices.

You're currently in the Preface document. Note that the menu item associated with the Preface is bolded. When you link to any other document, the menu item for that document is similarly bolded.

If the menu item is upper case, the menu item is a link. Moving the mouse pointer over that menu item changes the mouse pointer to the link icon.

Expanding the “Gross Domestic Product” menu item and moving the mouse pointer down to the “Charts: Preface” sub-menu item displays the following:

Note the 4 sub-menu items for “Charts: Preface”. These items are lower case; hence, they have no associated links.

Moving the mouse pointer over the “sub-Pages” menu item displays the following:

Moving the mouse pointer over the “Charts: Current Prices, Market Exchange Rates” menu item displays the following:

Note the link icon. The “Charts: Current Prices, Market Exchange Rates” menu item has an associated link. Also note that this menu item expands into sub-menu items. These sub-menu items are themselves links; specifically, bookmarks to charts.

I double-dare you to find a better navigation system, as long as you don't triple-dare me to stick my tongue on the frozen metal light pole.