As of now our country's and most other countries in the world's system for gauging a year's success is based in GDP growth. While this is a good marker of success for those with money and thriving, it is not a marker that tells us if we have improved famine, poverty, child mortality rates, etc. These social markers need to be at the front of our yearly success analysis, not simply how much the market grew, or shrunk. Of course, these more social statistics are already being gathered by a number of sources, some independent and other government sponsored. The problem is that, because GDP is our main focus it acts as an umbrella marker for all things and assumes that growth means improvement in the realm of humanity focused issues as well, but it is clear that this system is one working for the richest people in the world only.

The other damning thing about this system is the blatant truth, you can not have infinite growth on a finite planet. Which brings us to the delusion aspect; because we are obsessed with growing GDP, because it acts as a "marker for all things" it leaves all numbers used to quantify the years success steeped in flawed logic. For example, take the statistics on world poverty. If you look, according to many government stats we've been improving as we've been growing in terms of eradicating poverty, hunger etc, but growing inequality is the only thing that has truly taken place. Since the 70s real GDP has doubled but despite this growth poverty and real wages have actually regressed meanwhile the annual income of the richest 1% has more than tripled since the then. The rich's call for more growth is ultimately about speeding up the mechanism of accumulation not improving the human condition. Even worse, is that capitalism, in its great wisdom, has ushered in the mindset that poor people are poor because they are not working hard enough. Being poor is a sign of moral degradation in this system. This lie veils the truth that in fact the poor are poor because the system is working to concentrate wealth in few peoples hands instead of distributing it equally.  The justification for this wealth is that those with money know what to do with money, that is why they have it. Not because the system is set up for them but because they are morally righteous and possess a wisdom others don't, so we should respect their power and take their truths as truths. These ideas, which are in fact killing a majority of people by forcing them into a states of survival robbing them of their autonomy are beginning to show face more and more. The trickle down rhetoric is becoming easier and easier to decipher as a clever script for keeping the majority of people at bay, confused and fighting amongst themselves.  Further these ideas are killing the very planet that provides us a place to live. So despite its logic, there are no tangible successes that have come from neo-capitalistic theory unless you are wealthy, and in reality wealth does nothing to equal out the human condition, it traps it in a paradigm for exploitation despite its inevitable demise.