How come a country's measure of success is its economy? What makes one country more successful than another isn't the economy; it's the happiness of the people. Newspapers should have headlines like, "Mexicans make more friends" or "Moroccans don't cut in line" and "Chinese children share more." Economic headlines give a false impression of success. "The economy rallies" has no bearing on the quality of our friendships or the depth of our conversations.
Please see: Re: Friends don't count money @ justthreedots.blogspot.com
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I would have to disagree (and it's not only because I am an Economics major). While it's true that GDP (the economy)isn't a perfect reflection of a countries happiness. Nor perhaps any sort of reflection on a countries happiness, since as the old saying goes, money can't buy happiness (although as one of my professors says, money can buy a close approximation of happiness). However, GDP can and does reflect a countries well being. The fact that GDP is going up does not directly impact the quality of our friendships, the fact that we are wealthy enough to provide food, clothing, housing, and medical care to the vast majority of the population probably does impact the quality of our friendships. During the Great Depression, when the economy tanked, people had plenty of time to spend with friends and family since a lot of people weren't working, although most of the conversations revolved around being hungry and living in a shack. No conversations condusive to high quality friendships, nor real depths of conversation.
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So, I was rereading what I wrote, and I realized that it wasn't really very well written. My one excuse is that I was probably either high or drunk when I wrote it (I don't exactly remember). But anyways, I did want to add one concession to Galen. It is true, when comparing two comparatively wealthy nations, a rise in GDP probably won't matter. For instance, if you were to compare England and the United States, the fact the the US's economy is growing faster probably won't make the average citizen better off. But my point still stands that it matters what the economy is doing, with a poor economy, there are no jobs, no jobs equals no money, no money equals no food, clothing, shelter, etc. You may argue that it shouldn't be this way, but it is, so either live with it or change it. ;)
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