GDP And A Few Remarks About Relevant Yet Farcical White House Comments

Same GDP graphic as as always. Inventory builds accounted for more than 50% of GDP growth. That's a winner. In other words, fuggedboudit. It's a one time anomaly. Interestingly imports continue to be terrible. What a surprise. Not really. :) Don't expect the short term export bulge to last either.

So, let's break down some faulty rhetoric out of Washington as it pertains to GDP and the economy.

Once again, I will qualify these remarks that I have respect for our President as a person. That doesn't mean I worship the emperor's every move as many ideologists do. I want results and won't give an inch until I see them. Because unlike crafty and often smarmy politicians who never stand for anything, ( ie believe in compromise on issues of morality and character) leadership never compromises on issues of virtue and morality. Compromise on issues of justice, integrity and character are by definition an assault on leadership. This in itself should be telling as to why politicians should never, ever be trusted. That their words should be verified by actions and transparency. This Presidenct is a masterful politician but has shown little leadership. This Presidency has been nothing but compromise on issues of morality, justice and the rule of law. Rhetoric? Well, that's great. You can talk all day long. Leadership is what this country needs. Leadership realizes its greatest responsibility is to empower the individual and society. Neither party has any claim to nor have they fulfilled any leadership. The leadership void across business and society is larger than ever.

So, the President is out campaigning this week. In some effort to try to defend himself and the Dummycrats, he is out giving public speeches. He should be focusing on policy and leading the country through actions. But let's look at two points the President has made repeatedly this week that are nonsense.

One, the President wants to double exports in some relatively short period of time. Nonsense. First off, without telling you exactly what is rolling around in my head, I will tell you that the American economy is not going to export its way out of this crisis. And, in fact, we could easily see employment levels drop to the lowest levels in modern history without increasing our exports one iota. Faulty economics. Faulty logic. Faulty policy. It won't work. Additionally, the entire world wants to save its domestic economy by exporting. Japan, China, Korea, Germany, France, Brazil, India and on and on and on. That doesn't even include the commodity countries of Canada, Brazil, Australia, Russia, Saudi Arabia and on and on and on. One of my very first posts on here addressed this issue. Who the hell is going to buy a doubling of our exports? That would be no one.

Secondly, the President sees our way out of this crisis as providing a better education to everyone in society. And, he argues that we can all agree on this point. Nonsense. This is a completely invalid statement in its most base form. I will agree that our primary educational system is a mess. But, it's a mess because politicians want it to be a mess. How is any kid in Compton, California or East St. Louis, Illinois ever given a legitimate opportunity of self-determination with our current educational system? But because of politics, you have to rob from Peter to pay Paul in order to address this issue. Good luck. But let's focus on the President's remarks. You know, like all of us receiving MBAs similar to the masters of the universe who destroyed our economy. Or, like all of the tens of thousands of lawyers lobbying our government and lining pockets of politicians.

This quote has come across my blog many times over the years including our posts on the industrial economy and lean methods:

"We are justly proud of the high wage rates which prevail throughout our country and jealous of any interference with them by the products of the cheaper labor of other countries. To maintain this condition, to strengthen our control of home markets and, above all, to broaden our opportunities in foreign markets where we must compete with the products of other industrial nations, we should welcome and encourage every influence tending to increase the efficiency of our productive processes"
--Henry Towne, President of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 1911

A profoundly simple statement by a profoundly brilliant Henry Towne. Compare that to the rhetoric of today. Now, does the President believe we are all going to become microbiologists? The only way that can happen is if we lower the standards for microbiologists, thus defeating the purpose of becoming one. It is important that everyone in a democracy is educated. Some of that may or may not involve formal education. Much of that involves being informed. If I can read, write and reason I can be informed. That involves a very minor amount of formal education and more time spent in self-discovery. How many educated people on Wall Street were informed of the coming crisis? Remember, that is what they are educated to tell us. I would say just about none of them. That includes the slobbering idiots who run Goldman Sachs, Lehman, Merrill, JP Morgan, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Bear Stearns who paid themselves handsomely using shareholder and then taxpayer money.

Yes our educational system is very important. But, then what about the millions of people who work in our factories? As laborers on our farms? Or attendants in our hotels? Or any other countless number of necessary jobs? What is the President's new educational plan going to teach them that is relevant to their employment? How to solve Pythagorean's Theorem? Or are they all expected to become microbiologists as well? And when they become microbiologists, who would do their jobs? Oh yeah, I forgot. The slave labor of illegal immigrants. Labor hired without paying Medicare, Social Security and often even a living wage. And how is that economically beneficial to either the average American or legal immigrants? Well, it is beneficial to the ruling class. Now, how again is the President's educational plan going to fix our economy?

What the President should be focused on are policies which allow every single American, starting with our children, to lead a self-determined life. And, thereby being able to achieve the very limits of their own abilities determined by their desire and God-given talents. That's it. How would the President actually accomplish this? Well, first of all, he'd do less talking and more listening. Something a leader would naturally understand. But instead of listening to lobbyists and Washington pundits, he would listen to the American people. The Maybe it's the President who needs an education in listening, economics, markets, democracy and history. But then were our country and economy operating as it should, without thirty years of meddling by lobbyists and profligate politicians, the economy wouldn't be relying on a single person's thinking to determine our economic fate. I think we sent a message as it pertains to this ideology when we booted the British troops and their king out of our economy and our country two hundred years ago. This isn't an indictment of our President who has his heart in the right place but rather of a broken model which needs fixed.

To start with, maybe the President should go back and read Henry Towne's remarks from one hundred years ago. If he doesn't, some future Presidential candidate will.