Nowadays its noteworthy when our rulers tell the truth. From MN Gordon at economicprism.com:
“It is significant that the nationalization of thought has proceeded everywhere pari passu with the nationalization of industry.” – EH Carr
Denying the Truth
Central planners face an impossible task. They must compel people to behave in ways that go contrary to freedom of choice. Only those full of conceit and having an outsized ego would make a career out of this line of work. You know the types…
Thou shalt only take public transportation. Thou shalt pay income taxes. Thou shalt consume bugs. Thou shalt use electric leaf blowers. Thou shalt own nothing and be happy. Thou shalt have a permit to sell lemonade. Thou shalt do as I say not as I do.
Yet, even when the plebs go along, the plans of central planners never work out as intended. They’re costly. They create unnecessary work. They can also be extraordinarily destructive.
Rather than accepting their limitations, however, central planners redouble their efforts. They create complicated incentive programs. They reward one industry at the expense of another.
And when their promises of the more abundant life don’t square with reality, what do they do? They fabricate lies to deny the truth.
Take Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, for instance. She must have exceptional vision. She sees what no one else can. In particular, she sees a path for avoiding a U.S. recession.
Yellen’s path involves a decline in the rate of inflation and a strong U.S. labor market. She was even kind enough to describe what it looks like on ABC’s Good Morning America:
“You don’t have a recession when you have 500,000 jobs and the lowest unemployment rate in more than 50 years. What I see is a path in which inflation is declining significantly and the economy is remaining strong.”
Yellen pointed to last week’s U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics employment report. The propaganda machine’s January data was a real leg slapper. It showed an increase in nonfarm payrolls of 517,000 jobs. Consequently, the unemployment rate fell to 3.4 percent – a 53 year low.
STRAIGHT LINE LOGIC 