Galt's Gulch

The incredible GDP map that shows half of U.S. output is generated by a few cities

Posted by mminnick 10 years, 2 months ago to News
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Very interesting map.
Coming from many many years of work in Defense, this map tell me exactly where to target to cripple the US for decades, at least as far as the economy goes.
Just my world view. Old habits are hard to break.
SOURCE URL: http://blogs.marketwatch.com/capitolreport/2014/02/19/the-incredible-gdp-map-that-shows-half-of-output-generated-by-a-few-cities/

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  • Posted by brs02 10 years, 2 months ago
    Ok, the I95 corridor, I live there in the middle of all the moochers. What is really produced in these areas; tangible assets or is it simply multiplying the money supply?
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  • Posted by lmarrott 10 years, 2 months ago
    I am curious about how this reports production of things like software and services? What if a company is based in one city, but has offices spread around the country. Is this map saying all of their "production" is in the city where the headquarters is?

    I looked at the Reddit post briefly and couldn't find a solid explanation of how he compiled this map.
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  • Posted by barwick11 10 years, 2 months ago
    I like how they say NYC is a center of output... hilarious. It won't be in a few years with that Communist bastard as mayor, that's for sure. Mark my words, NYC is going to be worse than Detroit during our lifetime.
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  • Posted by strugatsky 10 years, 2 months ago
    I think that this map is misleading. If one were to use the same technique on the GDP of the South in 1860, for example, I think that 80% or more of the wealth would be mapped in the cities, but in reality 80% of the wealth was produced on the cotton and tobacco fields. Likewise here, when half of the population is receiving welfare and much of the rest has useless government jobs or otherwise services government waste (EPA, OSHA, ADA, etc.), and most of those are located in and around the cities, you will get a lopsided view. I wonder how much real wealth is created in the cities?
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  • Posted by Robbie53024 10 years, 2 months ago
    Most of those cities are centers of commercial activity, but little wealth (true wealth, not merely the aggregation of money) is created there.

    GDP counts commercial activity, not actual wealth creation. There is very little wealth created in NYC, yet there is tremendous commerce there, thus it is credited with huge contributions to GDP.
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    • Posted by iamA2u 10 years, 2 months ago
      I know I am going to get negative ratings by all of you for this, but here goes: the reality is you may have been unconsciously influenced by "Occupy Wall Street", watching too many Hollywood films, and listening to the Democrats too much.

      I can't believe you are saying that commerce is not a value-added activity. One of the most important functions of banks and Wall Street firms is the disintermediation of risk. Short-term to long-term, equity to commodity, insurance, etc. Properly matching up entities with counter-balanced risk is a large activity of investment banks and trading firms. Those are truly some of the most important activities of the modern world, and enable a huge measure of wealth creation through risk allocation. Railroads, airports, container ships, new enterpreneurial firms, and drilling in deep water, all depend on this very, very essential function.
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      • Posted by CircuitGuy 10 years, 2 months ago
        I'm a Democrat (not one who follows any party line), and what you're saying makes perfect sense to me. Providing liquidity is a necessary service for wealth creation, just like hundreds of other services people provide. My only complaint with the financial industry is they act as if they are the main underpinning of wealth creation and no one else would step in if all the major financial firms failed. Allocating capital is a necessary function, and a new banking system would crop up if our current system didn't exist.
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    • Posted by $ Snezzy 10 years, 2 months ago
      In one theory (whose??) wealth is created ONLY by agriculture, mining and manufacturing. All else is protection, transportation, consumption or plunder. GDP counts plunder (i.e. government activity) and is thus misleading.

      Anyone up for making a different map? Hint: Omit DC entirely.
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  • Posted by $ MikeMarotta 10 years, 2 months ago
    Cities are the engines of enterprise and creation. Many survivalists and preppers disparage the City qua City, but in history (fact and theory), the city endures when farms fail. Austin is one of those engines. So is San Francisco. Both are surrounded by looter-moocher failed states. Texas is fascist; California is socialist. Nonetheless, the city endures. Moreover, no magic formula exists. Central planners have tried to create "enterprise zones." Indeed, enterprise zones do exist; but they cannot be planned.
    "City Air Makes You Free" here:http://necessaryfacts.blogspot.com/2013/11/city-air-makes-you-free.html
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    • Posted by jsw225 10 years, 2 months ago
      Cities were the engines of enterprise and creation. You simply have to look at cities now to know that's true. Detroit is no more, there's little in Philadelphia, Chicago is a cesspool of crime, murder and corruption, and the only thing New York makes is hedge fund managers.

      The only thing propping up these cities is the ridiculous amount of government spending.
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      • Posted by $ MikeMarotta 10 years, 2 months ago
        Rome... Athens... Beijing... The large picture is cities qua. In other words, while this city or that may prosper or decline (Rome, Stockholm, Magdeburg, Benares), the structural-functional purpose of the City qua City enables it to survive. Cities qua were, are, and will be the proving grounds for the engines of creation. To deny The City is to deny capitalism.
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