PeakTrader.com

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PeakTrader:

Also, older Americans rather than just consuming in retirement will produce and consume.

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It’s not a “problem” older workers aren’t retiring early enough.

The problem is the economy isn’t expanding fast enough to absorb everyone who wants to work.

Believing older workers should make room for younger workers is ridiculous.

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Why?

Older workers typically have more experience, training, and education.

Only their health can hold them back, and people are living longer.

Why not promote economic growth, and therefore jobs, instead?

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2slugbaits, you’re making a lot of assumptions.

If half of workers are able to work well at 70, because they’re in good health (e.g. avoided serious injury at a more physical job, which a more physical job can be healthy, or worked-out at a gym, while working in an office, which is also healthy, etc.), then why discourage them from working?

Wouldn’t the economy be better off if those 70 year olds worked rather than not worked?

Why make everyone poorer just to reduce income inequality?

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http://econbrowser.com/archives/2014/11/social-security-and-paid-up-workers

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PeakTrader:

It’s unlikely purchasing power adjustments, for price and quality, are accurate.

For example, China’s per capita GDP based on purchasing power may be overstated, e.g. because of air, water, and land pollution.

Here’s another example:

The Problems and Potential of China’s Pharmaceutical Industry
April 2009

“China is dogged by a history of poor-quality pharmaceuticals that have killed hundreds and sickened thousands of its own citizens and people across the globe. The government has begun to tighten its laws, but enforcement remains weak, and official obfuscation is rampant.”

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It’s important to know if the economy is underproducing or overproducing.

One way is averaging actual output to estimate potential output.

However, we need to know what changed, since the trough in 2009, that caused a sudden slowdown in GDP growth.

It’s not easy to determine the net effect of hundreds of major forces pushing and pulling a large, diversified, and dynamic economy.

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If a car in the past accelerated from zero to 60 in five seconds and reached a top speed of 150 MPH, but now underperforms substantially, we need to know why.

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"Ricardian Equivalence."

Also, there’s uncertainty whether the economy will be strong or weak in the future.

If the economy turns out to be strong, for example, then more workers will pay taxes and tax rates can be lower.

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Japan slips into surprise recession, paves way for tax delay, snap poll
Mon, Nov 17, 2014

TOKYO (Reuters) – “Japan’s economy unexpectedly slipped into recession in the third quarter, setting the stage for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to delay an unpopular sales tax hike.

Gross domestic product (GDP) fell at an annualized 1.6 percent pace in July-September, after it plunged 7.3 percent in the second quarter following a rise in the national sales tax, which clobbered consumer spending.

The world’s third-largest economy had been forecast to rebound by 2.1 percent in the third quarter, but consumption, and exports remained weak, saddling companies with huge inventories to work off.”

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http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/ifdp/2012/1066/ifdp1066.pdf

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