That's what it's all about! Congratulations on the foreword. There is nothing more important than having a meaningful, productive discourse. Rational, civil discource creates the fertile ground neccessary for the seeds of free thought to grow. Today, an email exchange from a small online purchase led to a discussion of failing academics, and me introducing them to the great mind of Thomas Sowell. We need to be willing to have those conversations whenever those opportunities present themselves.
"After the war was over, there was a tremendous increase in the production of cars, refrigerators, housing, and other parts of the nation’s accumulated stock of wealth which had been allowed to wear down or wear out while production was being devoted to urgent wartime purposes. The durable equipment of consumers declined in real value between 1944 and 1945, the last year of the war and then more than doubled in real value over the next five years, as the nation’s stock of durable assets that had been depleted during the war was replenished. This was an unprecedented rate of growth."
That paragraph is identical in the 4th and 5th editions of Sowell's Basic Economics. He admits to the occurance of 'depreciation' in consumer durables but never actually uses the word. The Great Depression followed by WWII followed by the Great Acceleration has given us today's world. But the depreciation of all of the consumer junk produced since WWII is being ignored. Notice he called them "durable assets". The CO2 from producing all of the junk is still in the atmosphere.
Did you notice that I said, "the depreciation of all of the consumer junk produced since WWII is being ignored"? I quoted Sowell's paragraph. You seem to be talking about something that Sowell did not say.
You are of course free to regard me as ignorant as you like.
There were 200,000,000 automobiles in the United States in 1994. Cars purchased by consumers are added to GDP every year. Economists don't talk about NDP. The NDP equation is:
NDP = GDP - Depreciation
If you check an economics book, that Depreciation is for Capital Goods only.
A somewhat different equation would be:
NDP = GDP - (Dcap + Dcon)
Dcap: Depreciation of Capital Goods
Dcon: Depreciation of Durable Consumer Goods
If you agree with the economics profession that air conditioners should be treated like bananas that is your business. Karl Marx mentioned depreciation 35 times in Das Kapital in relations to Money, Machinery and Morals. Of course there were not many automobiles and air conditioners for sale in the days of Karl Marx and Adam Smith. I suspect that John Maynard Keynes never saw a television commercial for automobiles.
The context I cited was the quote by Thomas Sowell.
Sowell wrote about consumer goods that he called assets wearing out in WWII. That is physics and depreciation.
Then he talked about growth after WWII over 5 years. Time does not stop because he only mentioned 5 years. This economic behavior has since become known as The Great Acceleration.
YOU went off on a tangent about scrap drives calling me historicaly ignorant. I am not responsible for you starting silly debates that you cannot figure out how to win in your own eyes.
That's what it's all about! Congratulations on the foreword. There is nothing more important than having a meaningful, productive discourse. Rational, civil discource creates the fertile ground neccessary for the seeds of free thought to grow. Today, an email exchange from a small online purchase led to a discussion of failing academics, and me introducing them to the great mind of Thomas Sowell. We need to be willing to have those conversations whenever those opportunities present themselves.
"the great mind of Thomas Sowell" ?
"After the war was over, there was a tremendous increase in the production of cars, refrigerators, housing, and other parts of the nation’s accumulated stock of wealth which had been allowed to wear down or wear out while production was being devoted to urgent wartime purposes. The durable equipment of consumers declined in real value between 1944 and 1945, the last year of the war and then more than doubled in real value over the next five years, as the nation’s stock of durable assets that had been depleted during the war was replenished. This was an unprecedented rate of growth."
That paragraph is identical in the 4th and 5th editions of Sowell's Basic Economics. He admits to the occurance of 'depreciation' in consumer durables but never actually uses the word. The Great Depression followed by WWII followed by the Great Acceleration has given us today's world. But the depreciation of all of the consumer junk produced since WWII is being ignored. Notice he called them "durable assets". The CO2 from producing all of the junk is still in the atmosphere.
Did you notice that I said, "the depreciation of all of the consumer junk produced since WWII is being ignored"? I quoted Sowell's paragraph. You seem to be talking about something that Sowell did not say.
You are of course free to regard me as ignorant as you like.
There were 200,000,000 automobiles in the United States in 1994. Cars purchased by consumers are added to GDP every year. Economists don't talk about NDP. The NDP equation is:
NDP = GDP - Depreciation
If you check an economics book, that Depreciation is for Capital Goods only.
A somewhat different equation would be:
NDP = GDP - (Dcap + Dcon)
Dcap: Depreciation of Capital Goods
Dcon: Depreciation of Durable Consumer Goods
If you agree with the economics profession that air conditioners should be treated like bananas that is your business. Karl Marx mentioned depreciation 35 times in Das Kapital in relations to Money, Machinery and Morals. Of course there were not many automobiles and air conditioners for sale in the days of Karl Marx and Adam Smith. I suspect that John Maynard Keynes never saw a television commercial for automobiles.
The context I cited was the quote by Thomas Sowell.
Some of it shows up in Google Books.
Can you read?
Sowell wrote about consumer goods that he called assets wearing out in WWII. That is physics and depreciation.
Then he talked about growth after WWII over 5 years. Time does not stop because he only mentioned 5 years. This economic behavior has since become known as The Great Acceleration.
YOU went off on a tangent about scrap drives calling me historicaly ignorant. I am not responsible for you starting silly debates that you cannot figure out how to win in your own eyes.