How to hack your GDP while ordinary people suffer
- Private weapons manufacturers make more weapons than should ever be needed.
Why? Your country gained its wealth by becoming the world's largest weapons manufacturer, making it the greatest financial beneficiary of WW2. That manufacturing infrastructure didn't just disappear overnight.
- Large government subsidies to countries like Israel which aren't actually cash, rather they are purchases of these privately manufactured weapons using taxpayer dollars. These are given to Israel and other countries / entities in the world which perpetuate military conflict in order to keep feeding the machine.
There you have it. Production and consumption which keeps your GDP and GDP per capita growing without providing a meaningful benefit to humanity.