Grey's Economy: Mag Crews

Another example of what gets hidden in GNP and other macroeconomic numbers:

For Youths, a Grim Tour on Magazine Crews (nytimes.com)

“The sales agents remain almost always in the red while the managers, car handlers and everyone else is in the black almost from the start,” Mr. Ward said between shifts at a restaurant in downtown Washington, where he now waits tables.

Of the more than 400 sales agents whose accounts Mr. Ward said he handled, he estimated that fewer than 40 left the company having made money. The rest spent their earnings on the road or, more often, to cover their daily deductions for room expenses, gas and meals.

Whenever I hear people defending Bush's economic achievements, I think of all the cruft out there, like this, that passes for economic productivity. And the tragic corruption that sustains it.