$200B Lost To Counterfeiting? Back It Up

An anonymous reader writes "Over the weekend, the NY Times ran a story about how the recession has impacted product counterfeiters. In it, the reporter regurgitates the oft-repeated claim that counterfeiting 'costs American businesses an estimated $200 billion a year.' Techdirt's Mike Masnick asks the Times reporter to back up that assertion, noting two recent reports (by the GAO and the OECD) that suggest the actual number is much lower, and quoting two reporters who have actually looked at the numbers and found (a) the real number is probably less than $5 billion, and (b) the $200 billion number can be traced back to a totally unsourced (read: made-up) magazine claim from two decades ago."

Comments

Re:Counterfeiting is Ok.

[copponex]

The difference is between effective government and ineffective government, not the ability of a government to provide a just society. Hang on, I'll put it simply: you need to learn more than what your daddy told you. It's a big, big world out there.

Let's look at two modern western nations and see what the results are:

USA vs Norway

GDP per Capita (World Bank)
Norway: $55,000
USA: $46,000

Life Expectancy
Norway: 80 years
USA: 78.2 years

Poverty Rates
Norway: 7%
USA: 12%

Employment Rates:
Norway: 3.5% (April 2010)
USA: 8% (April 2010)

Income Inequality (Lower is Better)
Norway: 25.8
USA: 40.8

Vacation Time
Norway: 25 days
USA: 14 days

Awww boo. Reality is a bitch, ain't it?