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Stupid Headlines - California World’s Fourth Largest Economy

Arahant
@Arahant
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YouTube recommends various videos, especially in the news section. One that caught my eye a moment ago is: "California becomes the world's 4th-largest economy, surpassing Japan." And the splash image is a woman/news talking head next to a table with a list of the four largest economies in the world:

  1. United States -- $29 trillion
  2. China -- $18.7 trillion
  3. Germany -- $4.6 trillion
  4. California -- $4 trillion

Can anyone else spot the problem with this story? How about that table? I could be convinced to look at the individual states as competing with nation states. But, if you're pulling it out that way, wouldn't California be third? Otherwise, you are counting it against itself in number one on the list. Or is that $29 trillion redacted to pull California out of it? Has California declared independence? Has it been kicked out by the other states? Either this news station is lacking clarity, or I have missed some news, big news.

Seen any other silly stories you would like to share?

This post was promoted to the Main Feed at the recommendation of Ricochet's members.

Discussion (34)

  • GPentelie@GPentelie

    An apples-to-apples comparison, whereby all other countries would be broken down into their sub-national parts (states, provinces, territories, etc.) as well, would result in California's rank as #1.

  • Arahant@Arahant
    ReplyingtoGPentelie

    GPentelie (View Comment):

    An apples-to-apples comparison, whereby all other countries would be broken down into their sub-national parts (states, provinces, territories, etc.) as well, would result in California’s rank as #1.

    Probably, but there is no valid argument for doing so in the case of most countries. I'm an adherent of "These United States," rather than "The United States," so I can see doing it with us. Germany? No. China? Maybe in cases like splitting off Tibet.

  • GPentelie@GPentelie
    ReplyingtoArahant

    GPentelie (View Comment):

    An apples-to-apples comparison, whereby all other countries would be broken down into their sub-national parts (states, provinces, territories, etc.) as well, would result in California’s rank as #1.

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Probably, but there is no valid argument for doing so in the case of most countries. ...

    Why would it be invalid to, say, compare the GDPs of the 16 German states to those of the 50 U.S. states?

  • Arahant@Arahant
    ReplyingtoGPentelie

    GPentelie (View Comment):

    An apples-to-apples comparison, whereby all other countries would be broken down into their sub-national parts (states, provinces, territories, etc.) as well, would result in California’s rank as #1.

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Probably, but there is no valid argument for doing so in the case of most countries. …

    GPentelie (View Comment):

    Why would it be invalid to, say, compare the GDPs of the 16 German states to those of the 50 U.S. states?

    Germany's "federal" government seems to be much stronger and more unitary than ours is supposed to be. They seem to have a lot more power to form and unform their states, for instance. We could not break up California without the state legislature's permission. Nor could we merge California, Oregon, and Washington without the three state legislatures' permission. Our original thirteen (or fourteen) states were independent countries that came together creating a limited umbrella layer. Germany were formed by pressure from the outside less than a hundred years ago after they lost a war.

    But you certainly can compare subdivisions of other countries to our states. Go ahead. There is nothing to stop you. It seems like gallons and pints to me, though.

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