The Off Topic Topic

[mongers]

When it comes to quality of life, rising per capita GDP is what you need.  If you want to maintain a powerful military or economic might, however, then absolute GDP is what you need.  That said, I wonder if at some point growing GDP per capita diverges with the goal you're trying to achieve.  Once individuals get beyond a certain income level, their happiness and well-being is defined by less tangible things.  The same has to be true for a country at some point; what good is the high GDP per capita if people have to work on average 60 hours a week for it?

Hippy. 

[alfred russel]

Question.

Does a country with a falling population need GDP growth? Would GDP shrinking slower than population not be similar?

This begs the question whether a country *needs* GDP growth, but I'd say you're OK with rising per capita GDP.  As long as you scale down public spending proportionally.

In practical terms, that may be hard to do. The reason some countries are facing population declines is that their younger generation isn't being born or is moving away. Since elderly consume more public services, it is going to be harder to support them without reducing benefits.

Also, if the country has a significant amount of debt, it becomes harder to service with a reduced GDP, even if per capita GDP holds up.

[alfred russel]

That's great! So how would you depict the main Union generals?

I think the Union generals should be exactly who they really were. Sherman would violate Robert E Lee again and again, against her will, but deep down she would know she had it coming and it needed to happen.

[Admiral Yi]

In practical terms, that may be hard to do. The reason some countries are facing population declines is that their younger generation isn't being born or is moving away. Since elderly consume more public services, it is going to be harder to support them without reducing benefits.

Also, if the country has a significant amount of debt, it becomes harder to service with a reduced GDP, even if per capita GDP holds up.

Very good points Fredo.

[Ed Anger]

That's great! So how would you depict the main Union generals?

I think the Union generals should be exactly who they really were. Sherman would violate Robert E Lee again and again, against her will, but deep down she would know she had it coming and it needed to happen.

I just came.

[Eddie Teach]

That's great! So how would you depict the main Union generals?

I think the Union generals should be exactly who they really were. Sherman would violate Robert E Lee again and again, against her will, but deep down she would know she had it coming and it needed to happen.

Nah, they need to be little girls too, perhaps from a rival school.

p.s. Ed's a perv.

[Ed Anger]

I'd ejaculate into a female Robert E Lee's beard.

[derspiess]

  Gee, what could go wrong with this?


Obama administration pushes banks to make home loans to people with weaker credit

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/obama-administration-pushes-banks-to-make-home-loans-to-people-with-weaker-credit/2013/04/02/a8b4370c-9aef-11e2-a941-a19bce7af755_story.html

[Admiral Yi]

Gee, what could go wrong with this?


Obama administration pushes banks to make home loans to people with weaker credit

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/obama-administration-pushes-banks-to-make-home-loans-to-people-with-weaker-credit/2013/04/02/a8b4370c-9aef-11e2-a941-a19bce7af755_story.html

Amazing.

[lustindarkness]

Gee, what could go wrong with this?


Obama administration pushes banks to make home loans to people with weaker credit

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/obama-administration-pushes-banks-to-make-home-loans-to-people-with-weaker-credit/2013/04/02/a8b4370c-9aef-11e2-a941-a19bce7af755_story.html

Is that for real? 

[Ed Anger]

Next crash, I can load up on more foreclosed homes. THANKS BARACK.

[Josquius]

When it comes to quality of life, rising per capita GDP is what you need.  If you want to maintain a powerful military or economic might, however, then absolute GDP is what you need.  That said, I wonder if at some point growing GDP per capita diverges with the goal you're trying to achieve.  Once individuals get beyond a certain income level, their happiness and well-being is defined by less tangible things.  The same has to be true for a country at some point; what good is the high GDP per capita if people have to work on average 60 hours a week for it?

GDP per capita doesn't always give an accurate  picture, e.g. equatorial guinea.
You need to look at the gini coefficient too.
I once merged them both in a totally unscientific way which nonetheless gave accurate seeming results.



Anyway- yeah, declining population countries still need  growth or else there will be no chance for their young people to get a share of the wealth, and population will decline even more.

[Tonitrus]

That's great! So how would you depict the main Union generals?

I think the Union generals should be exactly who they really were. Sherman would violate Robert E Lee again and again, against her will, but deep down she would know she had it coming and it needed to happen.

Nah, they need to be little girls too, perhaps from a rival school.

p.s. Ed's a perv.

I guess I'd have figured the Union generals would be those tentacle demons instead.

[CountDeMoney]

Gee, what could go wrong with this?


Obama administration pushes banks to make home loans to people with weaker credit

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/obama-administration-pushes-banks-to-make-home-loans-to-people-with-weaker-credit/2013/04/02/a8b4370c-9aef-11e2-a941-a19bce7af755_story.html

Looks like they're not aiming at the Dazzling-Urbanites-With-$1,500-Gets-You-In! crowd as much as they are aiming it at younger working adults who've entered the housing market since 2008 that don't have a strong credit history.

The drop in purchase mortgage originations, although widespread, has been most pronounced among borrowers with low credit scores. For example, between 2007 and 2012, purchase originations fell by about 30 percent for borrowers with credit scores above 780, compared with a fall of about 90 percent for borrowers with credit scores between 620 and 680. Originations are virtually nonexistent for borrowers with credit scores below 620.

Whether this pattern stems from tight supply or from weak demand among borrowers with lower credit scores, it has disturbing implications for potential new households. Younger individuals--who have seen the greatest drop in household formation--have, on average, credit scores that are more than 50 points lower than those of older individuals, a difference that existed even before the recession.

Staff analysis comparing first-time homebuying in recent years with historical levels underscores the contraction in credit supply. From late 2009 to late 2011, the fraction of individuals under 40 years of age getting a mortgage for the first time was about half of what it was in the early 2000s.  The drop was especially pronounced for individuals with low credit scores and remained large even after controlling for local unemployment rates and for measures of the individual's demand for credit--a result indicating that tight credit supply is an important factor.

As I noted earlier, household formation has been particularly weak among young individuals, who are also a large part of the potential first-time homebuyer population. Many of these young individuals have relatively weak credit records and are more likely to have had a recent spell of unemployment. Our staff analysis highlights how tight credit conditions are for such individuals in the current environment. In the early 2000s, about one-third of first-time homebuyers under the age of 40 had credit scores below 620, and another one-fourth had scores between 620 and 680. Today, many of these individuals would have a difficult time obtaining mortgage credit.

Credit scores between 620 and 680 isn't intrinsically bad.  Hell, I fall in that range, and that's only because I possess only two active accounts and no revolving debt.

[Lettow77]

 As envisioned, again, there properly is no union, but if it were, they would manifest themselves as little girls as well, albeit more flawed ones, with flaws of a more immoral character.

The setting is properly a joudo garden of repose and healing, where the vanquished find rest in a form more fitting the sanctity of their environment; the personal eccentricities that linger within them are something they struggle with in the refraction of their karma, through an introspection that is not aware of itself.