Excuses, Excuses

I'm sure you've heard the news by now, the commerce department has come out with the final quarter numbers for last year as a 0.1% GDP decline. There are many excuses as Democrats try to spin the news, but the party's narrative is not very convincing. I thought I would take some time to overview the popular responses, by which I mean excuses, to the news and why the arguments are either dishonest of just out right wrong.

Excuse #1: "Government spending has been dropping, and that has hurt the economy."

If this is true at face value, it is just really sad. This would be saying that the private sector is, and probably has been, growing (maybe skrinking) at an even weaker rate during this entire recovery, and the only growth is not only spurred, but sustained by the government spending a record 24.1% average of GDP. Bush spent an average 20.5% (including FY2009), and Clinton spent 19.3%. Just imaging if that extra 4 percent was being spent in the economy by the private sector itself. At what point do we get to say the stimulus didn't work?

Excuse #2: "Republicans wanted cuts in spending, well this is what happens when they get their way"

It is true Republicans in general want less government spending, but rarely do they want the biggest and hardest hit factor of those cuts to be so focused on defense, which is by far and away the largest part of this short term dip in government spending with the sequester cancelling many defense contracts even before the fiscal cliff deal was struck. If this was the case, then we may be in store for another dip if the new sequester date approaches with no real solution. Also note that non defense federal spending in Q4 actually rose 1.4%.  So really this is a second reason, aside from the obvious, to be careful when approaching the defense budget.

Excuse #3: "This is only temporary"

Dear God, I hope so, but if I had a nickel for every time a monthly or quarterly report came out as "below expectations" the last few years I'd be a rich man. The Federal Reserve was predicting a huge slowdown and growth, dropping to 1.0%... GROWTH! This was factoring in known drops in federal spending. This is all just evidence of the Federal Government digging it's nails into who is winning and loosing in the open markets.

Excuse #4: "The other aspects of our economy are strong."

Here is where you really loose me. Sure, it may not have been a decrease in GDP without the large cuts in defense, but reduced exports and poor growth in company stockpiles. Even without some of these more 'one time' aspects, most people say growth was around 1.0 to 1.5%, not exactly bragging rights material.

Excuse #5: "We need to increase spending to correct this."

We had to borrow over a trillion dollars this last year in order to quench this governments thirst for it's stimulus programs. We are now years into this approach and the first flinch from the government in spending results in a net contraction. This approach is not only unsustainable, but it is doomed to fail unless we have such a strong growth rate that is swallows up our deficit. Sadly, this approach is exactly what this administration has been hoping for for the past three years. Take a look at his budget proposals for 2012, he has predicted a near double digit receipt growth for the following year each year since taking office, these inaccurate predictions have since removed from the white house website.

Excuse #5: "Who cares?"

Sadly, probably the same people that thought 1.8% growth in 2011 was too week, and that 2012's net 2.2% increase is not worthy of the term 'recovery'. A President who wants to be spending almost $6 Trillion a year 10 years from now  will always have people trying to justify and downplay bad news with this President. Not so unlike Presidents of the past, but surely not to this extent this casual observer has seen.

BOOBS!

Now that I have your attention, it's time for another political rant, but the central players are those lovely mammaries that, much like Saturday morning cartoons, we learned to love as a child and still try and get a peak at from time to time when our wives aren't looking.  

As a result of a provision in the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), health insurance plans now have to cover the full cost of breast pumps for nursing mothers. The new rule took effect for many people at the start of 2013. It's led to a boom in the sale of the pumps, a heaving surge in demand, a swelling bottom line, the executives are tickled, and shareholders dividends have been nursed well from the result of the sales of these pumps, which can cost hundreds of dollars.

Advocates of requiring insurance companies to pay for breast pumps say that the measure will pay for itself in the long run. A very scientific looking study found that people who suckle on breasts tend to have fewer health problems. It is not too far fetched say the same may be true for babies, and paying for breast pumps should mean more babies are breast fed. There is, however, another aspect to consider, new moms now seem more likely to splurge on fancy new things for their breasts, including breast pumps. If you purchased the cheapest pump you could buy last year, and this year you can get the most expensive one free, why wouldn't you not only buy another one?

It is in that last statement that this issue takes flight, for it is not you who is forking over the hundreds of dollars, it is everyone. Weird things happen when you take price out of the equation for consumers. For one thing, they stop looking for the best price. But, even though breast pumps are free for new moms, somebody has to pay for them. Health insurance premiums are driven by how much we spend on health care. The more things that are covered by health insurance policies, the more premiums have to rise to cover that spending. This is being proven over and over again as premiums continue to rise at alarming rates in the wake of Obamacare, which had been promised to stifle such increases, yet here we are about 3 years later looking like a group of dumbfounded men staring at, well, you know where I'm going with that.

I have spent many hours researching breasts on the internet, and have concluded that we are going about this issue all wrong, that it is not an issue where we should be concerned about the health of the baby, but about the general well being of our baby momma's. We should hold them close, and comfort them, stroke their hair and see if they smell nice.

The worst part is people will see free and forget that nothing is free. Then about half of the population will see breasts and forget about all the other problems this bill continues to shine a pair of headlights on.

Proof we are going about this all wrong

Keeping with my outrage over the neck breaking speed at which gun control legislation is being enacted without proper discourse in the wake Sandy Hook, we now observe a state senator from New York boast on the floor about how fantastic, and how great of a time it is to be a Democrat. How great a bill it was that they where passing, and finishing up his proverbial patting of himself on the back with stating, that this bill was not going to change a danged thing.

New York State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr., while announcing that he had every intention of voting for S.2230,  that he describes himself as a “Democratic bill,” chided his fellow Democrats with a simple exhortation;

“It will not make a difference in the committing of crimes.”

He didn't stop here, at a point, where he could play that statement off as a slip of the tongue, no sire-ree, he goes on. “I assure you, nothing’s gonna change. We have lost respect for life, we have no respect and fear of God,” Diaz spoke. “Not until we go back to those standards, nothing’s gonna control crime... It’s the mind. It’s not the weapon, it’s not the revolver, it’s not the rifle. It’s the mind,”

This is the same state that forgot to exempt policemen and other public safety officials from their law. The same state who had a mayor say police should go on strike. Have we embarrassed ourselves enough yet? Have we made a point that the discourse on this topic is going in a terrible direction? The only silver lining here is that they have until March to scramble and try and correct their own ignorance. This line goes right up there with "You have to pass the bill to learn what's in it." and "They misunderestimated me."