WE'D LOVE TO SEE

More things than one can shake a stick at have been blamed for the ongoing sour global economy. In case you've forgotten it's same one that began nearly a decade ago.

The latest piece of quasi-Keynesian nonsense is not new: if somehow we just stick more money in consumer pockets they're so dumb they'll traipse right out and spend it, rescuing the world from the tenuous economic precipice it teeters on today.

Now this gem comes after nearly a decade of the wildest foray into monetary policy this semi-civilized world has ever witnessed including the latest insanity appropriately named NIRP. It might be a double negative, but it strains one's gray matter to calculate a positive from two negatives.

That real wages have been flatter than a clip board for longer than one can remember is not debatable even in that rarified air of MSM editorial board meetings. You know who those folks are, the ones who spread the authorized word.

Now, according to a recent WSJ piece, "Anemic Wage Growth Restraining Economy," begins with this white tale: "Years of solid job gains are failing to produce a breakout in wages, suppressing the spark needed for a sustained pickup in economic growth."

The author then quotes the bogus job numbers created over the past four years we've all heard and caps it with how low the unemployment rate now is. Next he cites the obvious, "The U.S. economy, like much of the globe, is stuck in a slow-growth rut. Turmoil overseas and still-weak commodity prices are preventing the manufacturing, trade and energy sectors from supporting growth. That leaves U.S. consumers to boost the expansion."

This is all part of the MSM ploy to distort the facts, things are not good but they're getting better and if employers would just hike wages consumers will ride to the rescue. It's that simple. No mention that many of the banks in Europe are bankrupt, none of the massive global debt and over-spending sprees that were simply for years kick down the highway changed let alone solved, let's just consume some more and get a whole new cycle underway. We will worry about the next nightmare when it gets here.

Then comes the piece de resistance for this crowd, comparing wage growth today with that of previous expansions. It's a popular economic metric. If we just elevate to the same average as then, the words of the noted tune: "It's summer time and the livin' easy. Your daddy's rich and your momma good looking" will start playing again.

Next comes one of the favorite  bamboozles of economists, productivity growth. Just get the boys and girls to produce more per unit of work time. Then all those fortunate ones can genuflect on Mondays for their pittance of increase in salary. No mention of during recessions that those lucky enough to stay employed are forced to double and triple up on their daily workloads. It's common as human nature.

What never gets blamed is bad government management by bad government bureaucrats and politicians and government agencies laced with give-away and con artists. Now that's a productivity index we'd love to see. Unlike what many in the mind of these people believe the buyer of last resort isn't the Fed as we've all been told. It's you and me, if we choose to participate.

A few years ago a business associate told me his hairline started to recede at 12 and by 25 he was completely bald. He said he used to spend 15 to 20 minutes everyday just running his fingers slowly through his hair. And when I asked him why, he said: 'It was leaving me so fast I wanted to appreciate it as much as I could while it was still around."

With a cashless society just over the horizon, you might want to do the same with your cash.