Assorted Afflatuses

Thank goodness for Phil Gramm. Everyone and their mother was up in arms this morning when Mr. Gramm, an executive at Swiss bank UBS and economic adviser to Senator John McCain, said Americans were experiencing a "mental recession." But I'm not sure what people found so objectionable about the comment. I mean, it's true!

A recession, as those who have taken an introductory macroeconomics course know, is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth. Some might claim the United States is "in the midst of recession," however, the numbers are not there to support such an erroneous claim. Yes, GDP growth in the United States has slowed as of late. But, as our GDP has grown every quarter for the last seven years, the United States is hardly in the midst of a recession.

As Mr. Gramm said to CNN, many politicians, "blame speculators and oil companies for our problems, instead of presenting concrete programs for using energy more efficiently."

It's almost unfortunate John McCain did not endorse Mr. Gramm's views. They make far more sense than Senator McCain's loony economic strategy.