But how real is this economic growth?

[barryqwalsh]

Since 2012, at least 21 major US corporations with a combined value of well over a third of a trillion dollars have gone through the tax inversion process. Many of these tax inversions have involved Irish-registered companies including Medtronic's takeover of Covidien, Perrigo's acquisition of Elan and Actavis' takeover of Allergan.


Doing the maths: how real is Ireland's economic growth? - Independent.ie

 

[AdvancingTime]

I jumped over and read the article you referred to and agree a lot of the growth we hear about is the result of moving around the numbers. It seems we are faced with a great deal of smoke and mirrors when it comes to the getting an honest picture of growth. America and other countries have allowed numbers that mean "nothing" to seep into how the gross domestic product (GDP) is calculated in an effort to create the illusion of better growth. By boosting GDP numbers countries have found they lower their ratio of GDP to government debt, this is why we should scrutinize everything or we risk that we will be very surprised.

In the words of its creator, "The GDP framework is more or less an empty abstraction devoid of any link to the real world." He recognized that all economic growth is not created equal and quality is a critical factor that must not be ignored when it comes to the issue of growth. The article below titled, "Show Me The Growth" was published December 27th on Seeking Alpha and questions if the growth we see is more of an illusion than real.

Advancing Time: Show Me The Growth!

 

[barryqwalsh]

I find it funny that many, quite rightly, say Chinese economic data is unreliable, but the very same can be said of Western countries.

 

[ScienceRocks]

These loop holes should be banned and all these ******* corporations should be fined heavily.