Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.

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The US population only accounts for 4.2% of the world. (lemmy.ml)

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

That's an interesting read, but I think it misses a point of where that 25% GDP is really coming from. The US makes 25% of the GDP because they outsource. To use other country's labor, other countries people, other other people's brains, and they take a huge chunk of profit from it. They then claim that's their GDP.

America is a very efficient country, with a lot of skilled workers creating a lot of cool products and stuff, but it's not 5x other countries. The only way to get those numbers is by leveraging the work of other people and claiming it for yourself.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

That's not how GDP works

Edit to elaborate, GDP is calculated based on final goods and services, outsourced work exclusively counts towards the GDP of the country that work is done in, and only affects the GDP of another country when they buy what the first country made, but the outsourced work still happens in country A, so country A gets all the GDP created by selling finished goods, and all the GDP of the work done on unfinished products within their borders.

Basically, the US isn't sitting on everyone else's money, it just genuinely makes and sells that much shit

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I‘m not sure how GDP is measured for an international company such as Google. Does the entire Revenue count cos the HQ sits in the US? Or is the license fees that it pays to Bahama‘s (in order to avoid taxes) is substracted from the US GDP? Does somebody know how that is measured?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

Unless it's the sale of a product or service or the wage earnings or someone who worked on a product or service, it doesn't contribute to GDP, if country A made product X, it being sold in country B contributes to A's GDP