All Tyranny Needs to Gain a Foothold is for People of Good Conscience to Remain Silent
Edmund Burke’s quote, the title of this posting, could not be more relevant to how the Economic Classification Policy Committee (ECPC) proposes to radically redefine “Factoryless Goods” as U.S. manufacturing.
Too many people of good conscience remained silent when in the 1990s the U.S. Government changed how the official unemployment rate was calculated and the rest is history in term of how our policymakers continue to deceive us and themselves.
The proposed changes in the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) for 2017, reminded me of the following measurement quotes:
“It is impossible to escape the impression that people commonly use false standards of measurement — that they seek power, success and wealth for themselves and admire them in others, and that they underestimate what is of true value in life.” ― Sigmund Freud
The proposed change will enable the Administration to artificially inflate U.S. export and fraudulently achieve its export goal.
“Measurement is the first step that leads to control and eventually to improvement. If you can’t measure something, you can’t understand it. If you can’t understand it, you can’t control it. If you can’t control it, you can’t improve it.” ― H. James Harrington, Process Improvement Guru
The proposed change will corrupt the measurement, thereby eliminate any possibility of improving the U.S. Trade Deficit.
“Data is of course important in manufacturing, but I place the greatest emphasis on facts.” -Taiichi Ohno – Father of the Toyota Production System
Apparently our policymakers cease to wish to face facts or confront reality!
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