Statistics Lie!
“From the instant I took office, I moved rapidly to revive the U.S. economy. In just three short years, we have shattered the mentality of American decline and we have rejected the downsizing of America’s destiny.”
- President Trump, State of the Union Address, Feb 4, 2020 (1)
"Under Donald Trump, the annual U.S. budget deficit has exploded from $585 billion in 2016 to more than $1 trillion in 2019. Cumulative debt is now more than $22 trillion—higher than the nation's entire GDP, which hasn't happened since the end of World War II."
- Dailykos, Feb 9, 2020 (2)
"We have an amazing power to alter human actions by changing our perceptions. Perceptions and the resulting actions drive everything that is impacted by humans—which increasingly translates to everything on our planet, including our social-governmental-economic systems."
- Touching the Jaguar: Transforming Fear into Action to Change
Your Life and the World, by John Perkins (Preorder now)
One of my jobs as an economic hit man (EHM) was to produce sophisticated economic studies for developing countries. These studies created a perception that by accepting large loans and hiring US corporations to build massive electrical systems and other infrastructure projects the countries would prosper. I’d been taught in business school to think that this was the correct path to “development.” Eventually I came to understand that those projects primarily benefited businesses owned by a few powerful families in those countries; we were helping them get richer and opening the door for US corporations to earn huge profits.
Statistics can lie. Big time!
One of many US examples: Politicians like President Trump portray statistics that measure “economic growth” as indicators of national prosperity. What they neglect to tell us is that in a country where three individuals have more wealth than half the population (the US, according to Forbes) (3), the way we define “economic growth” only measures how much richer the very rich are becoming. If, for example, those three individuals enjoy a 10% increase in their wealth and the poorest 50% suffer a decline of 3%, the overall growth rate is a positive 3.5%. That is NOT a measure of national prosperity! When politicians brag about low unemployment rates, they fail to point out that many of the “unemployed” are working 2 or 3 jobs, 12+ hour days, at a minimum wage that is insufficient to support their families.
The key words in the above quote from the State of the Union address are “shattered the mentality.” This president has a very clear understanding of the power of perceptions to mold reality.
A major theme throughout my new book, Touching the Jaguar, is that human perceptions drive the actions that create human reality. In business school, I was taught a perception about economic development that benefited the rich. Today, CEOs perceive success as maximizing short-term profits, regardless of the environmental and social costs. Both of these perceptions, as well as those expressed in the recent State of the Union address, create a reality that results in severe crises around our planet.
The important question to ask right now is: What are the perceptions each of us can bring to bear on ourselves, our communities, and our world to make the transition from a failing Death Economy to a successful Life Economy? Answering that question is a primary goal of Touching the Jaguar. The question and some of the answers will be addressed in upcoming newsletters.