Here are some of America’s main economic problems.
- Painful inflation caused by bad monetary policy by the government.
- Excessive spending and debt caused by bad fiscal policy by the government.
- Rising prices and waste caused by bad health policy by the government.
- Inflexibility and inefficiency caused by bad regulatory policy by the government.
And that’s just a partial list. I’m not asserting that markets produce perfect results. Indeed, markets are a never-ending process of creative destruction.
But what I am stating is that intervention by politicians and bureaucrats almost always leads to bad outcomes.
So you can imagine my angst and disappointment at this recent polling data from Echelon Insights. A plurality thinks the government should “do more.”
I’m tempted to speculate whether 47 percent of Americans are morons.
But let’s take the high road and simply dig into the numbers. Whenever I see polling data, I always check whether the question is properly worded.
Is there any bias? Does the question make sense?
Sadly, I think the above question is relatively straightforward. If the poll has asked a stand-alone question about whether the government should do more, that might have been ambiguous.
After all, the government theoretically could “do more” by reforming entitlements, shutting down useless federal departments, and replacing the corrupt internal revenue code with a flat tax.
But when the poll also gives people the option of answering that the government is doing “too many things,” then it is quite clear that “do more” means bigger government.
In other words, 47 percent of people are…well, let’s just say confused.
Hopefully last year’s Gallup poll is more accurate.
P.S. I can’t resist sharing one other result from the Echelon Insight poll.
Here’s an example of a poll question generating good results (people want more energy production and a smaller burden of government spending), but for illogical reasons.
The problem with this question is that rising prices are caused by bad monetary policy and the only cure is to change monetary policy.
Yet respondents were not given that option.
They may not have given the right answer if the question was worded better, but they never got the chance (I also made this point when looking at different polling data two months ago).
P.P.S. I obviously like this polling data on a spending cap.
P.P.P.S. And I was shocked by this poll about the world’s most pro-capitalist nation.
P.P.P.P.S. For sentimental reasons, I very much approve of this poll.
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Image credit: Alex Proimos | CC BY-NC 2.0.
