The GDP and Me

I searched “How is the GDP doing right now?” The answer returned from the internet was “U.S. GDP or Gross Domestic Product is the total value of goods produced and services provided in the U.S. It is at a current level of 27.94T, up from 27.61T last quarter and up from 26.41T one year ago. This is a change of 1.19% from last quarter and 5.80% from one year ago.” I’m not sure what this means to an ordinary guy like me.

I’m most interested in our family income, our consumption of goods and services, and the quality of life we produce for our family and in roles we assume among the rest of society. The group French President Nicholas Sarkozy put together at the time of the 2008 financial crisis thought like I do. Such items should be part of how we measure performance of the broad economy. That GDP doesn’t is part of the problem with using GDP. The committee enumerated such concerns in their recommendations and pointed out obstacles to accurately collecting this data and conveying it in a generic report. It’s been more than ten years and I don’t know if anything came of it.

My life sometimes seems like it is on generic autopilot, continuously moving from one task to the next, with little emotion and a hope to make it successfully through each day, week and month. I made it so far. There has to be more in life.

Because we live on a fixed income, tasks I undertake are devoid of financial concerns. They are weighted toward what has to be done and what I want to do. I know which activities are too expensive and which must be delayed until they will fit in the budget. This knowledge creates a quality of life.

For example, after replacing some major appliances (stove, washer, dryer and furnace) our electricity expense reduced by 20 percent year over year. Replacing decades old appliances was something we would not have done except for the fact they couldn’t be cost-effectively repaired. In the case of the furnace, replacement parts were simply not available. We had to replace them. Money saved on electricity will be assigned other uses. It will be a non-item in the bigger picture. Our quality of life is better for having new appliances.

Our health care is in turmoil right now because the University of Iowa bought Mercy Hospital. The practitioner I saw in town already jumped ship. Staff at the clinic seemed uncertain what would be next and reported some people were keeping options open on a month-to-month basis until a transition plan was known. This tumult is part of the story of our financial condition as it relates to health care.

The rest of the health care story is that since getting on Medicare, I’ve had very little to co pay. If it was $10 over the years, that would be a high estimate. My insurance comes from Medicare, which deducts the premium from my Social Security payment, combined with a supplemental health insurance plan and a Medicare Part D prescription drug plan. My experience is different from my cohort who belong to Medicare Advantage programs. It is different from people who are on Medicaid or on private health insurance. The country needs to convert to Medicare for All and do away with private insurance completely. How differently people solve health care needs creates a challenge when it comes to measurements like the GDP.

Household maintenance and health care are two measurements of our financial and personal condition. There are others like our health, who does household tasks like simple repairs, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, laundry, and care giving. We also measure net worth, monitor loans, and prioritize major repairs around the property. We keep a balance sheet. When it comes down to dust, I feel like we are doing alright, yet have no real idea whether we are.

I am glad the GDP is rising… except for the way the environmental costs of exploitative industries are omitted… except for the way the numbers favor large business and government interests. Production looks good this quarter. How will it look to our children ten or twenty years from now?

I have a sketchy relationship with GDP. The more I learn, the less I like it. I need to develop my own narrative of how things are going.