GDP

The article entitled “Totally Gross” concerns the use of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) as a means to see whether the U.S. has fallen into a recession. I think the article is saying that the GDP is necessary even though it may have faults. It has been in use since the Great Depression and World War II. In the 1930’s it was used to track the ups and downs of the business cycle. The military needed a way to find out production capacity so the gross national product was created. It was then called the GNP. Much later in 1991 the GNP was changed to GDP. The GDP measures production in the U.S.; it does not measure production by Americans. Soon this first quarter of 2008 will be over and the GDP will help determine if our country is falling into a recession. It will be interesting to see what the prediction is. The GDP is usually accurate in it’s predictions.