[jose-incandenza]

Internet is the foundation of the global almost automated distribution networks and has brought the ability to target your consumers in a way that's cheap and effective. Usa exports tons of digital services that balance the trade ledger. I don't understand this stance.

[yorwba]

The internet has certainly changed the composition of the economy a lot, so that a lot of services that used to be in-person are now available online. But GDP growth is about the difference in value production over time. Especially digital services that can be provided at high volume, because they're so cheap, don't add up to as much value when you multiply it out, and then you have to subtract the past value of the replaced services, so the GDP contribution is less than you'd naïvely expect from the growth in units sold.

[inigyou]

This is why I say GDP is a measure of price level.

[inigyou]

So the added value is that all of us are now being targeted? That doesn't sound that good.

[agumonkey]

what kind of digital service is worth that much ?

[literalAardvark]

Most of the big ones. Only issue is the US is crap at collecting tax from them.

[agumonkey]

sorry i was really asking, i'm quite jaded about internet and i don't see what's so valuable (of course all i see is reddit youtube ..)

[literalAardvark]

All of Amazon, Apple, all the AI stuff, Google, including YouTube, yes.

They make tons of money for the US. Value is somewhat more subjective, but Amazon for instance certainly creates an enormous amount of value, as do Google's search and maps products.

I would argue that the democratisation of knowledge that YouTube has enabled is also very valuable.

[agumonkey]

it's funny how I don't share the appreciation

they're all very mild and are not a clear improvement over previous ways, amazon is full of confusing product reviews and false advertising (they did mutualize ~free home deliveries though), youtube is also loaded with bs, the good content is not that much better than a book the rare time it can claim it is (and I'd argue most of the time it's universities uploading videos they had already made before)

I did love google maps but a bit less since they've made it a store locator more than a map.

[delusional]

> Usa exports tons of digital services that balance the trade ledger.

In the accepted framework of global trade, where exchange value is either confounded or accepted as a use value, this is a correct stance. I think where we'd end up disagreeing is on that equality. I don't believe that just because you can sell targeted advertising for millions of dollar, that it's actually millions of dollars worth of social use value. We'd have to bicker about the definition of use value, obviously, but I find it hard to imagine an argument for why writing adware at Google is worth the money people are getting paid for it, relative to useful manual labour. In much the same way I don't believe the CEO's labour is worth 100x what the employee is paid, I don't believe the Google Engineer is worth 5x the gardener maintaining a park.

This spoken separation of use value and exchange value is missing from most internet opinions on the economy.

I hope that somewhat helps you understand how the stance can exist, even if I haven't explained it deeply enough for you to actually accept it.