WHY OBAMA IS LIKE A BARTENDER ENCOURAGING YOU TO DRINK MORE
There is considerable evidence that drinking one glass of red wine per day for most middle-aged men has more health benefits than costs. There is also considerable evidence that drinking three or more glasses of wine per day causes more health problems than benefits.
Even so, the owner of your favorite winery might encourage you to drink at least three glasses a day, perhaps with the following argument: "If you and my other customers drink three times as much, it will enable me to hire more workers, thus increasing employment."
What the winery owner conveniently ignores is the damage the additional drinking causes to both your health and your pocketbook, and the fact that if you spend less on wine, you probably will be spending more on other goods and services, thus increasing employment in those areas.
Many of the economic arguments I hear from the political class -- including members of Congress and President Obama -- are equally fallacious. It is tiresome to hear the president (as he did again last week during his news conference) and others say, time and time again that if we just tax and spend a bit more, our problems will diminish.