If you throw all the products we buy and the services we use in one basket, then add up the price tag, that's the Gross Domestic Product, which is the primary metric economists use to assess the economic health of a country or region.

The easy part of calculating GDP is the calculation itself: C+I+G+(X-M)=GDP. Got it? No? Well, add Consumption, Investment by companies, Government purchases, and then take the product of eXports (calling it 'E' would lack sexiness) minus iMports ('I' was taken). Viola! GDP.

Still don't get it? Well, knowing the components helps. Consumption is the biggest component, and it's a tally of the cost of all the goods and services we buy. Investment is what companies spend on the real assets they own, plus the value of the inventory that we haven't gobbled up through consumption. Government purchases are what the Feds pay money for (whether it be highways or fighter jets, though big social programs, like welfare, aren't counted). And then we calculate the difference between the goods and services we¿re sending to other countries and the stuff we're bringing in.

Good. That explains it, except there's a catch. Inflation has a habit of distorting the numbers, so economists talk about either Nominal GDP or Real GDP. In fact, Real GDP isn't necessarily "real" for most folks, since it takes any inflation out. Nominal GDP includes the effects of inflation. (There's something called the implicit price deflator which is a calculation using the two, but we'll spare you the details.)

So, now that we know GDP, why do we want to? Well, it's good to compare different markets. And watching the trend shows whether a given economy is growing (good), stagnating (not so good), or shrinking (very not so good). When GDP goes down two quarters in a row, we're officially in a recession.

For the record, GDP is released at the end of each month, with most reporting ¿preliminary¿ data for the previous month. But you won't get final GDP numbers for the fourth quarter of a year until the very end of the first quarter of the next year. After all, it's not an easy number to calculate.

Home / Markets / Industries / Media

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Distinguished Silicon Valley Entrepreneur and Advisor Richard Yanowitch Joins Lithium Technologies' Board of Directors

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Comtex

EMERYVILLE, Calif., May 28, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) ----Lithium Technologies, market-leading provider of solutions for creating successful online communities, announced today that Richard Yanowitch, a veteran Silicon Valley entrepreneur and former executive vice president of VeriSign, Inc., has joined its Board of Directors. Yanowitch recently served as a Venture Partner at Accel Partners, as Vice Chairman of the NDS Group, a $700 million digital media company, as Senior Consultant to News Corporation, where he reported to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rupert Murdoch, and, previously, as Vice President of Corporate Marketing at database software provider SYBASE.

"Lithium is at the forefront of an accelerating trend toward deepening the engagement between the enterprise and its customers," said Lyle Fong, President and CEO of Lithium. "During this time, Richard has been an invaluable strategic counselor for us. His depth of expertise in enterprise, SaaS and social media, combined with his outstanding track record of helping to create market leaders, will be critical as we enter this new stage of strategic growth."

Yanowitch is founder and chairman of The Entrepreneurs Group, a network of successful entrepreneurs who help build start-up companies into high-growth market leaders, creating millions of customers, billions of dollars in revenue and multi-billions of dollars in sustained shareholder value. He also serves on the board of directors for video advertising network Yume and global mobile social network Mig33.

Yanowitch joins Ravi Mohan of Shasta Ventures, Gordon Ritter of Emergence Capital Partners, Jimmy Wu of Dragonvision International Corp. and Lyle Fong, founder and chief executive officer of Lithium Technologies on the board. Founded in 2001, the company has raised $9 million in Series A financing and continues on a rapid growth trajectory, adding major new customers and revenue each quarter.

"Enterprises are moving aggressively to leverage the social web to transform the way they engage with their customers," Yanowitch said. "Lithium is at the forefront of this customer revolution. The SaaS pioneer in this space, Lithium goes way beyond social software and technologies. They are unmatched experts in how customer communities develop, grow, and thrive online."

To learn more about Lithium Technologies, visit http://www.lithium.com.

About Lithium Technologies

Lithium Technologies powers and manages many of the world's largest and most successful online customer communities. Organizations use Lithium's forums, chat, blogs, search, polls and private messaging to support and engage customers, decreasing customer care costs while increasing brand loyalty, sales, and customer satisfaction. Lithium's understanding of community behavior is unparalleled in the industry, making it the clear choice for customer-focused organizations including Dell, AT&T, Nintendo, Comcast, Sprint, Fair Isaac, PayPal and others. Founded in 2001, Lithium is privately held with headquarters in Emeryville, Calif. For more information, visit www.lithium.com.

SOURCE: Lithium Technologies

Horn
   Group Susan Etlinger, 415-905-4004 setlinger@horngroup.com

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