One way to begin to understand the history of the changes in the economic landscape is to study how official meanings to key concepts have been altered over time. "Knowing things that ain't so", as Josh Billings once said, presents much more trouble for folks as their simply being "ignorant".
Here are some words that I believe present great danger to the reader in their ability to hide the 'obvious':
“Oil” (2007 and after)
“… the
definition of "oil" was changed in 2007 to include
synthetic liquids.[4]…”
[4] International Energy Statistics
As quoted in ‘Peak Oil’
Wikipedia, Monday 16th July 2012
[Not
to confuse ‘oil’ with ‘energy’]
“…there are at least 3 factors
that are ignored in the total liquids graphs …. One - NGL's and ethanol have
only 70% the energy that crude contains. Two - the EROEI of all liquids is
dropping - fracking and deep water drilling, just to name two, require much
greater inputs per unit of return than does conventional on-shore. Three - the
population continues to grow, so per capita available net energy is what
matters. And as a corollary to that, the portion of the global population that
is reliant upon and has lifestyle expectations based on readily available
liquid energy grows every year, so the call on the decreasing net available
energy grows even more rapidly than does population itself.
Only a graph that takes into
account energy density, net energy and population can accurately paint a
picture of the global liquid fuel situation.”
clifman on February 25, 2012
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/8959#more
“Retirement age”
In the United States, while the normal retirement age for
Social Security, or Old Age Survivors Insurance (OASI), historically has been
age 65 to receive unreduced benefits, it is gradually increasing to age 67. For
those turning 65 in 2008, full benefits will be payable beginning at age 66.[5]
In France, the retirement age has been extended to 62 and 67
respectively, over the next eight years.[7]
In Spain, the retirement age will be extended to 63 and 67
respectively, this increase will be progressively done from 2013 to 2027 at a
rate of 1 month during the first 6 years and 2 months during the other 9.[8]
[5] Normal Retirement Age [NRA]
[7] ^
"Pension rallies hit French cities". BBC News. September 7, 2010.
[8] ^ "Spain to Raise Retirement Age to
67". The New York Times. January 27, 2011.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/world/europe/28iht-spain28.html
From: Retirement,
Wikipedia 18th July 2012
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retirement
“Inflation”
“The government used the same calculation for the CPI from
1913 to 1980. In 1980, after seeing
hyperinflation in late 1970s, the government changed the calculation and
dropped food and energy from the Core Inflation Index
While the U.S. government repeatedly states that we
currently [2011] have about 1% inflation, by using the older pre-1980
government calculation of inflation, we find that the true inflation rate is
closer to 10.7% as of May 2011 based on the SGS “Alternate CPI” calculation
from shadowstats.com.
Source: ‘Lessen the load
of Rising Inflation - How to maintain purchasing power’
Whiteside Wealth Management, Inc.
“Unemployment”
“…estimated long-term discouraged workers… were defined out
of official existence in 1994 [in the US].
Short term discouraged workers are not included in the US ‘monthly
headline number’ (U3) but only in the government’s broadest measure of UE at
the Bureau of Labor Statistics (U6)
Source: Alternate
Unemployment Charts
http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/unemployment-charts
“Employed Person”
US term for an individual 16 years old or older who, in a
given week, (a) works minimum one hour
for an emolument or minimum 15 hours of unpaid work in a family business, or
(b) who is not working but has a job or business from which he or she is
temporarily absent, whether or not being
paid for the time off.
‘Employed Person’
“Capitalism”
(1955)
capitalism, n.
…. the concentration of capital in the hands of a few, or
the resulting power or influence…... a system favoring such concentration of wealth.
From the American College
Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1955
As quoted in:
Economics: changing definitions
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2009
http://badgermum.blogspot.com.au/2009/04/economics-changing-definitions.html
“Capitalism”
(1941)
“…An economic system in which capital and capitalists play
the principal part; specif., the system of modern countries in which the ownership
of land and natural wealth, the operation of the system itself, are effected by
private enterprise and control under
competitive conditions.”
From Webster’s Collegiate
Dictionary, Fifth Edition, “date unknown as the relevant page is missing, but
the latest population information in the back of the book is from 1941”
As quoted in:
Economics: changing definitions
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2009
http://badgermum.blogspot.com.au/2009/04/economics-changing-definitions.html
