Britain’s statisticians fix a blunder and find a bigger economy

Economic value is not only distinguished as economic measurement. This is why utility theory and revealed preference theory exist.

It is valuable to society to do things that create joy.

Shit eating may not hold up specifically.

It would be great if we could measure work done without exchange of goods however that is generally not so large as to totally distort the general numbers. To no discredit of the work parents do.

so, he produces 50k value somewhere

This government is all about extortion and information manipulation.

Yes, obviously.

> Also the NHS should be privatised already, it’s painful to see all the money wasted on it

What's an acceptable casualty level for this transition? 100k or 1m? There's 4.8m diabetics in the UK, how many of them do you expect to not be able to afford insulin?

Getting a cheaper place isn't completely impossible, but I'd just have to go somewhere far enough away that commuting may be impossible or impractical and that will upset my current employers.

Governments aren't the same as households — I can't force people to accept any "money"[0] I might try to "print"[0], nor do I run a central bank whose interest rates I get to set, nor do I collect taxes or customs duties — but there are analogies, and "infrastructure ≈ housing" is one.

What the UK needs more than anything else right now is a realistic economic plan; unfortunately the UK government appears to be unable to tell the difference between that, their rhetoric, and their wishful thinking.

[0] it isn't money if no one accepts it, literally printing something that even tries to be money is something I assume to be a crime without checking, and money is increasingly digital these days so why even do that?

Let's say that the tories threaten the ONS with a sharp cut if they don't "play ball". Here are the scenarios.

ONS decide not to do it : leak to the press, Labour promise to reverse funding cut, funding cut doesn't come into force, Tories humiliated, Labour look favourably on ONS.

ONS decide to do it : Labour come into power, discover what happened (someone will talk), blood up the walls, ONS disolved etc.

So, I do not think that this is politically driven.

The idea that the ONS would juice their figures due to political pressure is only something that seems plausible if you aren’t aware of how it’s set up.

Here’s their board: https://www.ons.gov.uk/aboutus/transparencyandgovernance/lea...

Who on that board would be under the thumb? How would they get an organisation of hundreds of economists and statisticians to fall into line with their plan?

Oh yes because they’ve proven this time and again.

I dont like the tories, i think they are corrupt and incompetent. But they are likely to lower taxes because they have no other selling point.

Labour on the other hand…has no competence in generating growth. Their only plan is that of anyone without a plan: raise taxes. They say they wont but how else can they finance all they promise?

And given the lack of competence on both sides the most complex choice is voting for someone that lets me decide what i want to do with my money. Many folks are afraid of this level of freedom.

The simplistic notion that the government knows better wont fly with this over burdened tax payer.

Oh and those business rates. Guess you expect the government will hire you because that will be the only option if they keep raising them at this rate. Hopefully the NHS gets privatised so we get a relief soon.