Kennedy speech on GDP for the European elections
On 18 March 1968, Robert Kennedy spoke at the ' University of Kansas, in a speech which showed-among other things, the inadequacy of GDP as an indicator of well-being of economically developed nations.
Three months later, was killed during his election campaign that it would likely become president of the United States of America.
Our Wellness
Robert Kennedy
shall not find an end to the nation or our personal satisfaction in the mere pursuit of wealth, endless worldly goods in the cluster. We can not measure national spirit based on the Dow-Jones, the success of the country on the basis of gross domestic product (GDP). The GDP also includes air pollution and advertising cigarettes, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage of the weekend.
GDP puts in counts special locks for our doors and jails for those who break them [...]. Includes television programs that enhance the violent violence to sell products to our children. It grows with the production of napalm and missiles and nuclear warheads, also includes research to improve the spread of bubonic plague, increases with the equipment that the police used to quell riots, and that it increases when their ashes are reconstructed on the Popular slums.
GDP does not take into account the health of our families, the quality of their education or joy of their play. [...] Do not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of family values, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our employees. Does not take account of justice in our courts, nor fairness in relations between us. The GDP measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life really worth living. Can you tell us everything about America, but not if we can be proud to be Americans.
video with speech Robert Kennedy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByRGgj-nF_A
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