There is something important that needs to be discussed. Our economy is utterly pathetic and needs to be much stronger.
We need a 2% economy. It has come to the point where I am depressed over this. Our economy has been bad for so long. From 2008 when our real GDP was $15,605 billion to 2019 when our GDP was $19,092 billion our economy grew at 1.8621% a year. So before Covid our economy grew at 1.8621% a year, a lousy number. And this is all included with wealth inequality.
In 2020 we had a -3.5% real GDP growth rate, and we had a 2020 GDP of $18,423.78 billion. Growth then from 2008 until 2020 has been just 1.3895% and we had to fight for that big of a number.
Think about it. We are not doing well. That number would have been laughable decades ago.
If we would want to get a GDP growth rate from 2008 to 2021 of 2% (that is 14 years) we would need GDP in 2021 to be $19,974.4 billion. That would be an astronomical 8.4164% growth rate in one year to make up for all past years woes since 2008.
I am not asking to get back at all the lousy years. I am asking that we have a 2% growth rate average moving forward.
And we’ve come close with a 7% economy sometimes, but we haven’t had an 8% economy since 1951.
We need to do something before it gets really bad.
So what we had was less than a 2% growth rate and we had to fight so hard for so little.
What we want is to make sure there are no negative GDP growth rates for sure. And certainly no recessions. And a depression would be mind blowing. Because after all, the big losses hurt us more than the big gains help us.
So with all that said capitalism is not working. Capitalism is the best available system though. And to be clear I am a capitalist. However, capitalists are good at growing the pie, while socialists are good at dividing the pie.
Finally, let’s bring the American Dream back. Something worse than Covid could come along.
If something like Covid or worse comes along again, we have to make sure the economy does not dip too low and we keep an 2% average GDP economy going moving forward. We certainly can not have worse than 2% like we have had in the recent past.
I will provide definitions for some terms below.
However, in conclusion, the economy has been pathetic at under 2% GDP growth per year and it needs to be at 2%. It needs to be more durable and robust and we certainly can not average under 2% GDP growth per year moving forward. Let’s bring the American Dream back!
Terms
GDP – Gross domestic product (GDP) is the total monetary or market value of all the finished goods and services produced within a country’s borders in a specific time period. As a broad measure of overall domestic production, it functions as a comprehensive scorecard of a given country’s economic health.
Inflation – a general increase in prices and fall in the purchasing value of money.