On Oct 21, 2010, at 8:58 PM, Wojtek S wrote:
> He did have a point
> that if there is productivity growth, the outcome of that growth has
> to go somewhere. So where does it go?
A profitability boom and a surge in rentier incomes.
> You did not really answer this
> question, you just made a reference to the BLS stats, to which he
> countered that they are bogus. He did not elaborate, but if we pursue
> his inflation claim, it follows that the value of output (i.e.
> aggregate sales leaving industry) is inflated, which in turn inflates
> productivity measures.
What inflation claim? His assertion that the CPI is nonsense because gold is at a record high? Gold and other commodities are being driven by a surge in commodity index funds (and, to a lesser extent, real Chinese demand). Or are you saying that the BLS isn't valuing output correctly? Even if nominal output were inflated, that should be corrected when it's converted to real measures via a price index.
Doug