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271 points nradov | 7 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source | bottom
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incomingpain ◴[] No.42172690[source]
Admittedly I'm not familiar with bhutan. Besides basics, and buddhism connections. Lets take a look.

>Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay believes it is ironically the success of Gross National Happiness that has made young Bhutanese so sought after abroad.

They are 95th place for GDP.

125th place for HDI.

I wouldn't even consider working on 'happiness' with the numbers that bad.

Bhutan's balance of trade appears to be entirely negative. So the country is getting poorer.

Their GDP numbers are 5% growth every year? That seems impossible.

3% unemployment and 65% participation rate.

Lets call it a ~4-5% inflation average or worse.

6.8% interest rate, while never ever being below 6%? So they target what 5%? So its not that GDP growth at 5% is impossible. They are essentially saying they havent had gdp growth in decades, they are hiding a major depression?

In the last 10 years Bhutan has doubled their money supply, while population is leaving? LOL incoming government collapse.

government debt to gdp is ~130%. 100% is the magical threshold you're not allowed to cross. If you're the federal reserve and Tbills reputation might allow you to go above 100% like the USA in 2020... but Bhutan has no such ability. They likely cant cross ~40% if i were to estimate.

Major deficit spending across the last 25 years.

Sales tax of 50%

Income tax of 30%

>Bhutan was, and is today, largely a subsistence agricultural society. Many families still live in multigenerational farmhouses.

I'd be leaving as well. Nobody is seeking Bhutan people. The bhutan people are fleeing the inevitable.

Bhutan is about 20% debt/gdp from a venezuela level collapse. If by some magic they dont collapse there, they are about 40% from a greece like collapse.

Bhutan is already about 10% higher than the Sri Lankan collapse.

Fleee Bhutan while you can.

replies(5): >>42172749 #>>42172992 #>>42173028 #>>42173345 #>>42176346 #
1. griffzhowl ◴[] No.42172992[source]
Isn't GDP a particularly bad indicator for a society that's largely subsistence agriculture? They grow things and then eat them - does that even figure into GDP?
replies(1): >>42173170 #
2. konschubert ◴[] No.42173170[source]
Subsistence farming, while possibly not counted in GDP, is an explanation why people don't starve to death. It's not really an argument that the country is doing "better than it seems", unless your baseline is famine.
replies(2): >>42173371 #>>42173987 #
3. biosboiii ◴[] No.42173371[source]
is the more accurate baseline having food, 3 mortgages, a new phone and a laptop?
replies(1): >>42173493 #
4. konschubert ◴[] No.42173493{3}[source]
Heating and air conditioning, a comfortable apartment, being able to travel, health care to live long enough to see your kids grow old. Food that's cheap enough, so you always have something healthy and tasty to eat when you are hungry.

A pool in the garden is pretty fun on summer days, I imagine! It's cool to see the Niagara Falls, or the Norwegian fjords. Or visit a friend in a foreign country!

5. griffzhowl ◴[] No.42173987[source]
No, but it's a reason that changes to the standard economic indicators won't give you as much of an insight into changes to people's quality of life.
replies(1): >>42175884 #
6. konschubert ◴[] No.42175884{3}[source]
If the thing that drives your quality of life is subsistence farming then your quality of life is terrible.

No human except monks would choose such a life.

replies(1): >>42176564 #
7. griffzhowl ◴[] No.42176564{4}[source]
Maybe, maybe not. The point is that the GDP of the country you're in going up or down is a somewhat abstract and irrelevant concern for a subsistence farmer

I think it's possible that some of them have beautiful lives anyway, but tough, no doubt. I've been to some similar villages in Ladakh