If you are the president of the United States, you are up for re-election, and you have a slight problem – 2.6 million manufacturing jobs have been lost during your first term in office – what do you do? Well, if you are President Bush, you try to re-classify fast-food jobs as “manufacturing” jobs.
Yes, unfortunately, this is a true story. I don’t think anyone could make up something this stupid! According to Newsday, Bush’s chief economic adviser N. Gregory Mankiw “asked whether it should be changed. ‘When a fast-food restaurant sells a hamburger, for example, is it providing a ‘service’ or is it combining inputs to ‘manufacture’ a product?'”
I smell a whiff of desparation coming from the Bush camp here.
On a lighter note, Newsday sneaks in a funny Bill Clinton mention in this article: “The White House McDonald’s, whose customers include many White House staffers, though no president since Bill Clinton…”