Since economists used to use GNP, now GDP, to measure economic growth on the grounds that Dcap was small enough to ignore, including Dcon means they would have to use Net instead of Gross. Every competent business man knows it is the Net that really matters not the Gross. How economists have made this blunder and in- stitutions of higher learning have taught it for fifty years is beyond me. We live in a culture that has used complex machines for 300 years. The first patent on a steam machine, number 356, was issued in 1698.
Engineers can test, measure and specify the failure rate of mechanical and electronic devices.
A graph of the failure rate over time of a machine follows a pattern known as a bathtub curve. The curve gets its name from the obvious similarity to the cross-section of a bathtub cut lengthwise up the middle. It starts with a high failure rate dropping rapidly to a minimum. This is when the machine is new and has a high probability of manufacturing defects. The failures during this time are similar to birth defects and are also known as infant mortality.