“Any econonmists out there care to rip this apart? Or is this guy somehow correct and the economy is booming and consumers (i.e. jobless) are just not intelligent enough to see it?”
I did a little search on one of the authors - Deitrick and I found a reviewer’s take on a book written by him, essentially advancing the same bogus idea. Here’s her take on his book (and she’s a staunch democrat, but evidently one of those rare one that is also honest). Source: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/464639239
“After reading this Forbes article, I picked up this book as a possible Christmas gift for some of my relatives. My expectations were too high from the start; I hoped to find a book that would make one person stop moaning about the economy’s “inevitable collapse” due to Obama’s reelection and make another stop compulsively gardening to stave off the coming “food shortages.” In other words, I hoped it would present a convincing enough argument to turn crazy radicals sane. In retrospect, I realize that’s too much to ask of any book.
The main flaw in this one is apparent right from the start — opinions are often presented as facts. In the first pages, for example, it is stated that one of the criteria for determining the economic success of a president was how much he equitably distributed the country’s wealth among its people; my radical relatives would immediately disagree with that standard and probably wouldn’t read any further. It then goes on to state that civil rights issues are mere “distractions” and that you should only vote based on “what’s important — your pocketbook.” This is the point where it turned me off, although I decided to stick with it.
The book goes on to analyze several presidencies based on what the authors call their PRES Rankings (Presidential Rankings of Economic Stewardship.) The book reads like a lower-level college essay, and the whole thing is too heavily footnoted (most footnotes seem to lead to PDFs of university courses) and overly simplified; I’m not sure if the authors felt like they had to dumb it down to reach their intended audience or even who their intended audience was.
Another thing that detail-oriented readers are going to get stuck on is the number of typos and editing errors in the text; while not the worst I’ve seen, it is certainly significant. In my mind, the validity of your argument, no matter how well-researched, looks diminished when you haven’t even bothered to copyread it properly. The authors also use the same quote from Marriner Eccles (to whom this book seems like some kind of stalkery love note) about a poker game four separate times, which by the fourth time is just sloppy writing.
The chapters themselves are also heavily skewed toward the Democrats. Republican presidents are vilified in the text for everything from their upbringing and education to their campaign tactics, whereas Democrats are only lauded for their economic successes. I (full disclosure) am a staunch Democrat, and even I noticed the disparity; it is not subtle, and right-wing-leaning readers are going to pick it up and run with it. It has the effect of making the book seem like subjective propaganda. The authors would have served themselves better to just let their impressive economic facts speak for themselves.”
Thanks for posting the book review by a Dem, as it was telling.
The Forbes article is total BS. The figures used and the charts are nothing but fabrication, like the global warming junk.
How can the US have 92 million working age people UNemployed and claim only a 6% rate of unemployment? (rhetorical)