There’s a lot of rhetoric about the horrid conditions of the manufacturing base being diminished in the U.S. Most of this comes from the left. And while manufacturing is changing, the state of the economy is a far cry from the rhetoric.
A great anti-free market quote was uttered by Rep. Sander M. Levin (D-Mich), “We have had trade policies in this administration that assume that
trade is an end in itself, that market forces will work themselves out,
that there isn’t really an active role for government.” The truth is Congressman, market forces do just that.
What creates a great deal of angst and confusion is that consumers are pretty happy right now. In fact, consumer confidence is at a five-year high in spite of the trade agreements. The “sky is falling” crowd is probably also dismayed by the fact that the U.S. economy continues to grow EXCEEDING forecasts to the contrary.
While politicians meander about in the wilderness of economic misrepresentation, the rest of the country is getting on with the business of creating jobs and living. The only good news for the left is that consumers are giving zero credibility to the Bush administration for any of the current market conditions. In a twist of irony, that’s probably the way it should be. Otherwise, we’d have to believe that Clinton was responsible for the dot-com boom of the nineties.
