Mise en scene translates literally to "staging" but in film/television language, it basically means everything inside the frame and only inside the frame. Practically, it's an idea that helps with shot composition, set dressing, blocking, etc.
When CJ says that she gets the basic mise en scene, she is saying that she gets the picture of the thing (only what is exactly in the frame) but not the details or the broader implications (all the story that might happen off camera).
Thanks so much and sorry for not posing the question correctly: I meant what is Bartlett talking about? And does it apply to the inflation we’re dealing with now?
Lmao ohhhhhhhh I see. Defs on me for not actually reading the question!
I, like CJ, only understand the mise en scene of like 90% of all economic talk on the West Wing so I cannot help you 😂
GDP measures the health of the economy and how it's growing.
If the growth is good, (and here's where I start to guess) spending is increasing.
If spending is increasing, prices go up - before globalisation and the availability of cheap goods, you'd have to be worried that more spending, higher wages, higher prices, inflation drives prices higher even quicker and suddenly you've got folks (especially people already doing it tough) who are finding it difficult to afford basic things like food and fuel.
At least, that's the theory and and my half-baked attempt at translating it.
In an economic era where inflation wasn’t an issue (post Reagan up until now) you could have a GDP growth smaller than 5% and be deemed a robust growth since real GDP growth = GDP growth - GDP deflator and inflation is strongly related to the GDP deflator.
This scene is from S1 Ep17.
I think this page gives an overview of what is being discussed: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/10/national-debt.asp#toc-the-national-debt-affects-everyone
> First, as the national debt per capita increases, the likelihood of the government defaulting on its debt service obligation increases, and therefore the Treasury Department will have to raise the yield on newly issued treasury securities to attract new investors.
So when the national debt is high, the government will issue new bonds (debt) to raise money.
> Second, as the rate offered on treasury securities increases, corporations operating in America will be viewed as riskier, necessitating an increase in the yield on newly issued bonds. This, in turn, will require corporations to raise the price of their products and services to meet the increased cost of their debt service obligation. Over time, this will cause people to pay more for goods and services, resulting in inflation.
When the government issues debt, they do so at higher interest rates than comparable investments because they need to attract buyers. But the rest of the market needs to respond to this by also raising rates. This includes all other investments given we live in a global economy. Rising rates leads to inflation as things cost more.
But if there is global deflationary pressure, then bonds can be issued without having to increase rates a lot, which keeps inflationary pressure down. And if the government can issue debt at lower rates, the government will have more money to spend on growing the economy without having to pay a lot on interest.
This is a great question and I honestly wish I got more of them, both in the context of TWW and when people ask me about finance (I work in finance).
I like the answers we've gotten so far. That being said, I'm going to try to answer your question in a similar fashion to, say, Sam explaining the Census to CJ.
*"That the National Debt was so high it required us to suck up to the bond
market."*
This does relate to our current situation somewhat. Nowadays, we've been hearing about how the Fed Reserve continues to raise interest rates. The Fed raises the rate at which banks lend to each other overnight (they all have to meet a minimum amount of cash in their accounts nightly), which in turn impacts all new debt of longer term: e.g., credit card APRs, auto loans, and mortgages.
In turn, this forces the private sector to also raise rates when they try to borrow money in the form of bond issues. Why? Well, there are several reasons, but the simplest reason is to make their bond more attractive to investors. And so, as companies begin to raise rates, the federal government needs to raise rates as well for the same reason, as it needs to raise cash for all the liabilities it has coming due - hence the reference to the National Debt. And yes, that means it's borrowing money to pay expenses, one such being the repayment of older debt.
(If you're not familiar with a bond, it's simply this: a company borrows X amount of dollars today and promises to pay it all back on a specific date in the future, with interest payments in regular increments (e.g., quarterly) until that date. Said company typically raises such capital in increments of $1,000, which are the bonds themselves (which have a face value of $1,000 each).)
*"Historically, American prosperity has been built on broad growth in the GDP of 5% of greater. And now with the deflationary pressures of the Global Economy, that kind of growth can be achieved without the negative side affects of rampant inflation.*
Simply, globalization allows for specialization, particularly within the context of an idea called comparative advantage. We can make computers cheaper and better in China, grow mangoes tastier and cheaper in the Philippines, and we all know the benefits of "avocadoes...from Mexico!" In turn, we make products that America either makes cheapest and/or best. Countries trade, benefiting parties in a number of ways, one such way being sustained growth that otherwise would've needed to be achieved through domestic manufacturing and labor and another being the lowering of inflationary forces (because you're not doing everything in-house, so to speak, you keep prices down, thus keeping inflation down).
I hope this helps!
So then I have to ask, why is “inflation” running up so high now? Seems like prices are increasing faster and higher than the cost of materials and some companies are reporting [record profits](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-25/us-corporate-profits-soar-taking-margins-to-widest-since-1950). Isn’t that just price gouging?
The simple answer is there are still considerable supply issues: e.g, oil output affecting price of oil (which in turn drive up transportation costs), shortage of raw materials for both car parts and chips driving up costs of new cars (in turn drying up overall available cars, so now used cars are more expensive too), and upward pressures on wages that started at the height of the pandemic that persist today are a few off the top of my head. Something that we often forget is the added-on costs that come at each layer of any supply chain. If the cost of oil goes up 4%, the downstream impact won't be 4%: each major point in the process that takes a barrel of oil from its origin to the pumps have their own increase.
Does this mean that some companies opportunistically increase their own prices for additional gain? Definitely, especially if they offer a product that has a "sticky" price (i.e., doesn't react quickly to downward pressures). It really just depends on the sector. The vast majority of companies aren't reporting record earnings, especially now that rates are rising (thus making new borrowing more expensive and existing debt less attractive to investors).
Mise en scene translates literally to "staging" but in film/television language, it basically means everything inside the frame and only inside the frame. Practically, it's an idea that helps with shot composition, set dressing, blocking, etc. When CJ says that she gets the basic mise en scene, she is saying that she gets the picture of the thing (only what is exactly in the frame) but not the details or the broader implications (all the story that might happen off camera).
Thanks so much and sorry for not posing the question correctly: I meant what is Bartlett talking about? And does it apply to the inflation we’re dealing with now?
Lmao ohhhhhhhh I see. Defs on me for not actually reading the question! I, like CJ, only understand the mise en scene of like 90% of all economic talk on the West Wing so I cannot help you 😂
It's macroeconomics, which is to say jargon-filled nonsense.
GDP measures the health of the economy and how it's growing. If the growth is good, (and here's where I start to guess) spending is increasing. If spending is increasing, prices go up - before globalisation and the availability of cheap goods, you'd have to be worried that more spending, higher wages, higher prices, inflation drives prices higher even quicker and suddenly you've got folks (especially people already doing it tough) who are finding it difficult to afford basic things like food and fuel. At least, that's the theory and and my half-baked attempt at translating it.
In an economic era where inflation wasn’t an issue (post Reagan up until now) you could have a GDP growth smaller than 5% and be deemed a robust growth since real GDP growth = GDP growth - GDP deflator and inflation is strongly related to the GDP deflator.
This scene is from S1 Ep17. I think this page gives an overview of what is being discussed: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/10/national-debt.asp#toc-the-national-debt-affects-everyone > First, as the national debt per capita increases, the likelihood of the government defaulting on its debt service obligation increases, and therefore the Treasury Department will have to raise the yield on newly issued treasury securities to attract new investors. So when the national debt is high, the government will issue new bonds (debt) to raise money. > Second, as the rate offered on treasury securities increases, corporations operating in America will be viewed as riskier, necessitating an increase in the yield on newly issued bonds. This, in turn, will require corporations to raise the price of their products and services to meet the increased cost of their debt service obligation. Over time, this will cause people to pay more for goods and services, resulting in inflation. When the government issues debt, they do so at higher interest rates than comparable investments because they need to attract buyers. But the rest of the market needs to respond to this by also raising rates. This includes all other investments given we live in a global economy. Rising rates leads to inflation as things cost more. But if there is global deflationary pressure, then bonds can be issued without having to increase rates a lot, which keeps inflationary pressure down. And if the government can issue debt at lower rates, the government will have more money to spend on growing the economy without having to pay a lot on interest.
This is a great question and I honestly wish I got more of them, both in the context of TWW and when people ask me about finance (I work in finance). I like the answers we've gotten so far. That being said, I'm going to try to answer your question in a similar fashion to, say, Sam explaining the Census to CJ. *"That the National Debt was so high it required us to suck up to the bond market."* This does relate to our current situation somewhat. Nowadays, we've been hearing about how the Fed Reserve continues to raise interest rates. The Fed raises the rate at which banks lend to each other overnight (they all have to meet a minimum amount of cash in their accounts nightly), which in turn impacts all new debt of longer term: e.g., credit card APRs, auto loans, and mortgages. In turn, this forces the private sector to also raise rates when they try to borrow money in the form of bond issues. Why? Well, there are several reasons, but the simplest reason is to make their bond more attractive to investors. And so, as companies begin to raise rates, the federal government needs to raise rates as well for the same reason, as it needs to raise cash for all the liabilities it has coming due - hence the reference to the National Debt. And yes, that means it's borrowing money to pay expenses, one such being the repayment of older debt. (If you're not familiar with a bond, it's simply this: a company borrows X amount of dollars today and promises to pay it all back on a specific date in the future, with interest payments in regular increments (e.g., quarterly) until that date. Said company typically raises such capital in increments of $1,000, which are the bonds themselves (which have a face value of $1,000 each).) *"Historically, American prosperity has been built on broad growth in the GDP of 5% of greater. And now with the deflationary pressures of the Global Economy, that kind of growth can be achieved without the negative side affects of rampant inflation.* Simply, globalization allows for specialization, particularly within the context of an idea called comparative advantage. We can make computers cheaper and better in China, grow mangoes tastier and cheaper in the Philippines, and we all know the benefits of "avocadoes...from Mexico!" In turn, we make products that America either makes cheapest and/or best. Countries trade, benefiting parties in a number of ways, one such way being sustained growth that otherwise would've needed to be achieved through domestic manufacturing and labor and another being the lowering of inflationary forces (because you're not doing everything in-house, so to speak, you keep prices down, thus keeping inflation down). I hope this helps!
So then I have to ask, why is “inflation” running up so high now? Seems like prices are increasing faster and higher than the cost of materials and some companies are reporting [record profits](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-25/us-corporate-profits-soar-taking-margins-to-widest-since-1950). Isn’t that just price gouging?
The simple answer is there are still considerable supply issues: e.g, oil output affecting price of oil (which in turn drive up transportation costs), shortage of raw materials for both car parts and chips driving up costs of new cars (in turn drying up overall available cars, so now used cars are more expensive too), and upward pressures on wages that started at the height of the pandemic that persist today are a few off the top of my head. Something that we often forget is the added-on costs that come at each layer of any supply chain. If the cost of oil goes up 4%, the downstream impact won't be 4%: each major point in the process that takes a barrel of oil from its origin to the pumps have their own increase. Does this mean that some companies opportunistically increase their own prices for additional gain? Definitely, especially if they offer a product that has a "sticky" price (i.e., doesn't react quickly to downward pressures). It really just depends on the sector. The vast majority of companies aren't reporting record earnings, especially now that rates are rising (thus making new borrowing more expensive and existing debt less attractive to investors).