I've never been this bored before.
OMGLOL, it's a lady! That'll help the IMF's rape-ish reputation (assuming that the IMF operates under the Polanski definition of "consensual"). There is no way that she's involved in any kind of shenanigans that could embarass the IMF cause she's got the whole lady thing down! Plus she's French, so they'll be getting a second chance... or... seventh... but who's counting?
Simon Johnson has had some interesting (and more mature) pieces and interviews published here, here, and here (this last link being a much better explanation of the IMF than I provided before).
IMF-related boredom/face-palming:
Eliot Spitzer says something stupid. He uses Chinese consumption of electricity to make conclusions about the growth of China's economy, and how it will apparently soon surpass the US. He cites an IMF report of the Chinese economy surpassing the US in 2016. Oh for Confucius' sake...
I have not seen this IMF report (he fails to cite or link it), but I'm going to bet its one of the usual GDP measures. Now I'm going to tell you all something that every single student I've had knows that Eliot Spitzer apparently does not:
GROWTH
IS
GOOD
!
See if you can keep up Eliot. First of all, the proper measurement for making these kinds of ridiculous judgements is not consumption of electricity at the country level, which while a nice instrument, is not informative enough. You see, Ellie, economists have been using Gross Domestic Product since Buddha-knows-when to approximate the "size" of the economy. Picture a big woman with a big purse... wait... no, let's not do that so you don't try to pay her for... moving on. Let's just picture a big man with a big wallet. The GDP is the size of this man's wallet; we assume he "spends all he receives" in income, so his total expenditure is his total income (his wallet). Still with me, lab partner?
Our big man is not a good approximation of welfare or economic ability of the citizens, just potential economic power, if some one liquidated the entire economy and put it into currency. It could be that one Chinese dudette holds the entire GDP in her hands, while the rest of them starve. But let's put inequality on hold. Let's just think about population.
A more proper measure of economic size is to look at the "spending power" of some representative (average) individual in that economy. Divide GDP by population. The number has changed! In fact the rankings have changed! Let me give you an idea, the GDP per capita of the United States in 2010 was $45,989 (FGI, Eliot). The GDP per capita of China was $3,744.
Let me make it more simple:
$45,989 > $3,744
That means that forty-frikkin-five thousand dollars per person is strictly greater than three thousand seven hundred per person. So, Eliot, retake economics. Or just listen to John Oliver, a comedian who seems to have a better grasp on things than you do:
"Any nations economic strength is solely in the hands of its citizens' ability to consume... That is why America is the greatest economy on Earth! You people can't be beaten! ... I was in a mall in Connecticut and a saw an item in a shop window that stopped me dead in my tracks. ... It was an inflatable bar-be-que! ... It was a full functioning bar-be-que so that you... could cook while swimming! Is there any greater example of what it is to live in the freest nation on Earth than that?! ... Will China emerge as an economic force and take over the planet? Could China make an inflatable bbq? Yeah? ... Could China sell an inflatable bbq? Could the people of China for themselves purchase inflatable bbqs? There is no f***ing way!" ... If you are still unconvinced allow me to introduce you to exhibit B, the Oreo pizza!"
You may be equal parts horrified and amused by this (and there are a few comments I'm leaving out), it is true. That is the point of Development Economics; that there exists this gaping inequality around the world. China is still a developing nation, and the amount of poverty, oppression, and misery in that country is still unthinkably high, no matter how much electricity is being used.
And lastly, Mr. Spitzer, growth of income, growth of GDP is not a contest. While pundits like you are playing economic whip-it-out contests on cable news networks to the delight of "journalists" and news junkies who spend and make millions of dollars on this kind of crap, villages in China are going without adequate sanitation, medical care, food provision, and utility provision. Have you no shame? Have you no decency? The increase in per capita GDP of any country should be celebrated as those who were poorer are now relatively richer! That electricity consumption increase could be the purchase and use of washing machines, freeing up time for mothers to teach and care for their children. Yet you treat it as a threat to American companies? AMERICAN COMPANIES!?!?!?
To all of you self-serving, incompetent, and insecure politicians and pundits, I propose you shut up about this ridiculous "China surpassing America" conspiracy BS. What you are saying, in fact, is that we as a nation should do our best to keep other countries poor, so that we are still "#1". The point, as horrible as it may sound to those who decry materialism and decadent spending, is so that the Chinese CAN buy inflatable bar-be-ques, if they so decide.
That is why we measure income growth, not some childish ranking.
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