Terrible Economics in Poll on Stltoday.com

I know Internet polls are just for fun, and one should not read anything into them, but that does not mean the people who design the polls should actively promote ignorance and errors. The poll today at stltoday.com does just that. If you go to the poll they have on the main page now, you’ll see that the question is, "Who do you blame for the economic slowdown?" They give you five choices: Congress, the president, the Federal Reserve, private business, or all of the above. This is just absurdity, and promotes a lack of understanding of economics. At least they could have given a sixth choice, along the lines of: "A series of events, often beyond the control of American policymakers, and including the natural movements of the business cycle, leading to a general slowdown in our economy."

This is not to say everyone is blameless. I blame the president and Congress for overspending on programs of all types (particularly entitlement programs) that have us in such debt. Many private businesses and banks have made obvious mistakes with poorly researched loans. Left unmentioned in the poll is the responsibility of individual Americans who took out substantial loans they could not afford, certainly a prime cause of the housing problems we face. I don’t know why the banks get all the blame there. But to attempt to lay blame teaches people that the government controls the economy, which it does not, could not, and should not.