the lives of others are entrusted to people who volunteer their time, love and energy for nothing but the gratification of showing their love and care for another human. A society in which the local park is a hangout for drug dealers, children run recklessly in the streets with no parental guidance and our elderly citizens are left to die in their beds, lonely and uncared for, cannot be in a state of well-being. The activities that make a community safe and welcoming often do not involve a monetary transaction, and are therefore not reflected in GDP.One last example of a factor of well-being that is not currently recorded is the significance of war and violence. Some of the most prosperous times in history have occurred during war and destruction, when innocent men and women were killed daily, children were left orphaned and the earth was scarred by explosions and gunfire. The equipment, ammunition, artillery and transport needed to fight a war are all incredibly costly, thus showing a large increase in GDP. How can a society believe this increase to mean a good state of well-being when war, the ultimate cause of widespread misery and destruction, is to thank for the economic gain?As these examples have illustrated, the present technique of measuring well-being by watching gains and losses in GDP, leaves society with a very deluded view of its true state. While the number that GDP gives does have weight economically, many other factors contribute greatly to well-being. Less regard should be given to GDP, and a new method of measurement should be developed; one that takes into consideration whether the transactions that GDP records have a positive or negative affect on societys well-being....
