Japan trims April-June GDP contraction estimate to 0.3%

I think every modern economist would agree that GDP means nothing about the health of an economy. GDP is just what it stands for, the total value of goods and services that a country manufactures/provides per year.

Go ahead Abe. Do more QE. Crush the middle class even more and see if that helps the shrinking economy.

GDP is a fake figure that is 100% fabricated in order to fit the government's agenda. For example, go look at China and how China constructed all these ghosts cities, inflating their GDP growth rate to >7%. China's real GDP growth rate is about 3~4%. GDP is a meaningless number and it shows nothing about the real size and strength of economies.

@Aly Rustrom

Just genuinely curious, what is the most effective and safest way to take an economy out of deflation in your opinion? Or do you think a deflationary economy is hardly a problem?

@WesternerJapan87 I agree GDP is not a true representation of an economy's size and strength, but I doubt "every modern economist" would agree that GDP means nothing about the health of an economy.

"total value of goods and services that a country manufactures/provides + (is purchased / consumed) per year" is more correct. Its not just about supply, but also demand and their transactions as well. These numbers are actually fairly significant for making judgements about an economy.

The reason why China fabricates its numbers is exactly because the numbers are that significant. If it was meaningless like you and the economists you refer to claim it is, why would any country bother?

How much has Japan spent on Abenomic manipulation, just to achieve this slightly-less-terrible-than we-expected result?

It might have been cheaper and more responsible to give every man, woman and child in the country a million yen to spend!

@WarwickNchuaa

I agree that would've been pretty effective if it was done in doses over a longer time span so that people won't just save the money they receive and actually spend it, but you do realize that that would require the same means of QE right?

(Just to be clear I'm not anti-QE, at least for economies that are struggling to get out of deflation - wanted to clarify cuz a lot of people here on JT seem to refer to QE as the core of Abenomic manipulation)

Last year they predicted growth for the second quarter would be .4%, so they were only a little more than 100% wrong in their estimate.

If I opened the door to Aso's ministry, I wouldn't be surprised to find a hundred or so rabid squirrels running amok, but then a room full of rabid squirrels could probably do a better job.