Right, my bad. PPP does not, in fact, depend on the exchange rates which are affected by the spot market. I.o.w., the PPP normalisation is independent of whether there exists a market or not. Mea culpa, and apologies for insinuating that you don't understand the concept of PPP.

I'll even admit that I flew off the handle a bit from being accused of dishonesty. That tends to piss me off. Nevertheless, I do not think that it would be wise of you to attempt to turn this into a discussion of who has been most polite in this thread. DoDo and linca would win that contest hands down.

Nevertheless, it is still true that PPP$ do not accurately reflect subsistence costs, which is the thrust of my original point, as the PPP normalisation includes many goods and services that are not necessary to subsistence.

It is, of course, possible to construct an appropriate normalisation, but that's not what's being done with the official numbers.

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.