More fun from the Bush Administration

[Evolver]

Hamburger flipping is a manufacturing job?

White House economists wonder whether hamburger flippers at fast-food restaurants should be considered manufacturers.

President George W. Bush raised the issue in his annual economic report.

In the report last week, Bush's chief economic adviser N. Gregory Mankiw called the definition "somewhat blurry" and asked whether it should be changed. "When a fast-food restaurant sells a hamburger, for example, is it providing a 'service' or is it combining inputs to 'manufacture' a product?"

For an administration that has seen 2.6 million manufacturing jobs vanish since January 2001, raising the possibility of changing how manufacturing jobs are classified has provoked a sharp response, especially in an election year.

I can't wait to see how this one is defended.

 

[Ladewig]

As Bill Mahr said, "just because a Big Mac may spend a week in your colon does not make it a durable good."

 

[Evolver]

As Bill Mahr said, "just because a Big Mac may spend a week in your colon does not make it a durable good."

LOL

 

[RandFan]

I can't wait to see how this one is defended.

Hey, if ketchup can be classified as a vegetable I see no reason why manufacturing jobs can't be increased by merely changing a designation.

Hey, if we affix signs to the homeless can't we increase the number of advertising positions?

It can't be defended. Welcome to the world of politics where playing fast and loose with the numbers has been elevated to an art form. Sadly the Bush administration isn't as artful as those who turned tax increases into revenue enhancement.

Damn funny, though.

 

[corplinx]

So far I haven't seen anyone defend this. Does anyone know if the biggest Bush apologist in the world Sean Hannity has tried to defend it?

 

[RPG Advocate]

Earth to Bush: you cannot reclassify a problem away. Reclassifying fast-food jobs as manufacturing will just cause a shortfall in whatever they were classified as before.

Furthermore, this reclassification doesn't change the answer to the question that people who actually think the president has a huge amount of control over the business cycle ask themselves: "am I better off now than I was four years ago?"

 

[RandFan]

Earth to Bush: you cannot reclassify a problem away. Reclassifying fast-food jobs as manufacturing will just cause a shortfall in whatever they were classified as before.

Yes, that is true and was probably considered by those who cooked up this scheme.

The problem is that for some time the Democrats who have been running for prez have been *fairly driving home the fact that we have lost so many "manufacturing" jobs. These jobs are ostensibly better than food service jobs. They pay more and offer more benefits. If it were true that food service jobs went down and manufacturing jobs went up by the same amount then we would actually have a net gain.

*Because whoever is in the job gets the credit, good or bad.

 

[RandFan]

So far I haven't seen anyone defend this. Does anyone know if the biggest Bush apologist in the world Sean Hannity has tried to defend it?

Funny but I find myself agreeing with Alan Colmes more than I thought I would and disagreeing with Sean.

Who knew?

 

[Some Friggin Guy]

Funny but I find myself agreeing with Alan Colmes more than I thought I would and disagreeing with Sean.

Who knew?

That's probably because conservative or liberal, Hannity is an idiot.

 

[Ladewig]

It can't be defended. Welcome to the world of politics where playing fast and loose with the numbers has been elevated to an art form.

I think it is more appropriate to say, "has been lowered to an art form."

 

[RandFan]

That's probably because conservative or liberal, Hannity is an idiot.

You might be right. He sure gets liberals worked up into a lather though so I guess he isn't all bad.

 

[shanek]

You know, this might make an interesting little academic discussion. What, really, is the difference between assembling a hamburger and assembling car part? It might be fun to argue the pros and cons, as well as enlightening.

But why on Earth should our government care whether a specific job is considered "manufacturing" or not? It's ridiculous! Government needs to get out of our lives and out of our jobs and stop this unwarranted and MEANINGLESS interference.

I expect that if you went to an average burger-flipper and told him that technically his job was considered manufacturing, he'd probably just shrug. After all, he's still doing the same amount of work for the same amount of pay, and that's probably all he's concerned with.

 

[Chaos]

Two or three years ago our government tried to "reduce" unemployment by redefining who is considered "unemployed".

Nothing came of it, by the way.

This "idea" of the Bush administration reminds me of that.

 

[RandFan]

Two or three years ago our government tried to "reduce" unemployment by redefining who is considered "unemployed".

Nothing came of it, by the way.

This "idea" of the Bush administration reminds me of that.

It is simply cynical politics. If Americans are really stupid then it will get more votes for Bush. Little else if anything can come of it. Nothing good anyway.

 

[TillEulenspiegel]

I can see where an enterprizing ad man could use this kind of double think as a chance to glorify their clients "product"..Ya I se it now .....

Drive up window at Micky D's
I would like the Boeuf Au Fromage avec pommes frites.

 

[Cecil]

But why on Earth should our government care whether a specific job is considered "manufacturing" or not? It's ridiculous! Government needs to get out of our lives and out of our jobs and stop this unwarranted and MEANINGLESS interference.

Especially in an election year, the people in power put a premium on getting re-elected. If they can define things in new terms to make themselves look better in the public eye without causing too much of a fuss, they come out ahead. Redefining fast-food jobs as "manufacturing" allows them to run television ads promoting Bush's wonderful work in creating explosive growth in the manufacturing sector. If the public doesn't realize this is because of a redefinition (which is likely since most people aren't 100% up to speed on everything the government is doing) Bush looks like he's doing a great job as president.

All too often, the government's interests do not coincide with the public's, and in many cases they are diametrically opposite.

 

[JesFine]

Two or three years ago our government tried to "reduce" unemployment by redefining who is considered "unemployed".

Nothing came of it, by the way.

This "idea" of the Bush administration reminds me of that.

There was one where the Bush administration tried to stop issuing the monthly report of factory closings. It was only mentioned in a footnote of a report issued on Christmas. They reinstated it after some newspaper caught it. Is that the same thing you are talking about or is there another?

 

[shanek]

All too often, the government's interests do not coincide with the public's, and in many cases they are diametrically opposite.

The only thing that amazes me about this conclusion is that how many otherwise intelligent, skeptical people on this board continually deny it...

 

[Zero]

Funny but I find myself agreeing with Alan Colmes more than I thought I would and disagreeing with Sean.

Who knew?

That's probably because Hannity is a radical, and Colmes is a centrist moderate.

 

[Luke T.]

I find myself cringing a lot watching Hannity, even though I am a conservative. Colmes, although I disagree with him 99 percent of the time, strikes me as a much more reasonable person.

As for classifying burger flipping as a manufacturing job, I really don't see what difference it makes. All that matters to me, and to the burger flippers, too, I'm sure, is how big my take-home pay is.

And all the President should care about is how much income people made last year, what the inflation rate is, what the cost of living is, and how many people are unemployed.

To reclassify burger flippers is getting things ass backwards, in my opinion. The whole point of classifying is to attempt to group jobs that are influenced by similar factors together so that if they start falling, you have an idea what factors need attention. Adding jobs to a category that have unrelated factors is making the whole classification system pointless.