zeke woollett
1 min readApr 5, 2024

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Umar - this is a great start. I've often spoken about another aspect of GDP 2.0 (although I didn't use your label) - which is that we undervalue our natural resources tremendously, while failing to include the cleanup that is often required once extracted.
A simplistic example using made-up numbers: A company in West Virginia pays a nominal fee to the government for the right to mine coal by levelling a small mountain. The company spends a billion dollars turning the mountain into a plateau, employing a couple hundred men for a decade and escapes with a $9b profit at the end. Formerly pristine waterways are hopelessly polluted, and the place is turned into a toxic mess. The company is able to declare bankruptcy and skate, leaving taxpayers to pick up the tab.
If the total cost had been factored in at the beginning - perhaps a $5b license and also the posting of $2b bond for cleanup afterwards - then the taxpayers wouldn't be on the hook for cleanup, or perhaps even better, the mountain was left alone.
I think to the point of your piece-by privatizing the profits at a huge cost to society, we artificially add to our GDP in a way that inflates the value of (some of) our economic activities while actually generating a net negative to society as a whole.
Love to see more of this kind of economic measurement - perhaps that can actually get us to move the needle in a way the benefits us all without destroying our planet

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zeke woollett
zeke woollett

Written by zeke woollett

(Humorous) looks at life, relationships, work, parenting and politics. Father to 2 bi-racial boys and been with my wife (I sleep with one eye open) for 30 years

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