Page 26 - Forbes - USA (October 2019)

Steve Forbes Cont.
fective sales levy of 20% on just about
everything we buy in order to cover
the costs of European-style health-
care? To get a sense of what we’d hear,
just take a look at how Elizabeth War-
ren responded when Stephen Colbert
22 pressed her on whether her health-
care nostrums would mean socking it
to the middle class with higher taxes.
T
N She clumsily tried to dance around
E luxury-food traditions of both France and
M the question, embarrassing herself.
M At least Bernie Sanders told the truth:
O Yes, they would. (But then in Obama-
C shot through with veins of green create an
esque “You can keep your doctor and
& ultra-stylish and tranquil garden-like oasis.
T health insurance” style, he claimed
C they would come out ahead because
F A
medical care would be so much
•
cheaper and better when Washington
bureaucrats ran it.) Poor Colbert was
pilloried by the left for being so mean
to Warren.
As if more income taxes weren’t
bad enough, European nations are
also crushed with sky-high payroll lev-
ies. In the U.S. the maximum tax rate
for the payroll tax dubbed “FICA” on
your pay stub is 15.3%. In Europe the
norm is 35% to 50%!
Indeed, the best things in life are
not always free.
GDP Is the Wrong
Measure to Gauge the
Economy’s Health
WE’VE LONG BEEN led to believe
that the best measure of an economy’s
size and health is GDP—gross domestic
product. It isn’t. It’s a very incomplete
and, indeed, misleading picture of how
an economy actually operates.
How often have we heard that con-
sumption is 70% of the economy? In real-
ity business investment and production
are the largest parts. Without produc- guaranteeing that the media will ig-
tion there is no consumption. Consump-
Introducing
What’s Ahead,
the new podcast hosted
by Steve Forbes.
Subscribe now on iTunes
or GooglePlay Store.
F O R B E S . C O M
tion is the result of production.
A far more comprehensive, realistic
and enlightening picture than GDP is
GO—gross output—or, as it’s called in
Great Britain, total output. It’s like the dif- Monie Begley and Randall Lane, as well
ference between an X-ray and a CAT scan.
GDP is the value of all finished
products and services within a coun-
try’s borders. It’s the equivalent of a
company’s gross profit, its so-called
bottom line. But GDP ignores reve-
nue and expenses. No security analyst
would do that in evaluating a compa-
ny! In contrast GO includes the steps
that go into making those products
and services. Figured this way, the
size of the U.S. economy is over $45
trillion, not the $21 trillion currently
used. GO is a far more sensitive ba- the perfect king salmon with mushroom
rometer of how we’re doing and what
our future prospects are, because, un-
like GDP, GO immediately reflects
when production and investment are
growing or weakening.
Renowned economist Mark Skou-
sen has long advocated using GO
(Mark was a recent guest on my
podcast) as a better way of looking
at how we’re doing economically. To
make his point, he uses a cup of cof-
fee as an example. GDP leaves out the
growing and harvesting of the cof-
fee bean, its processing and shipping
and finally the brewing that gives you
the java.
Thanks to Skousen’s relentless and
scholarly pressure, the Bureau of Eco-
nomic Analysis, which compiles U.S.
GDP numbers, now puts out a GO
number each quarter. (Before Skou-
sen’s pressure decades ago, the BEA
had issued GO every five years.)
But there’s a huge—and inexcus-
able—kicker: Quarterly GO is is-
sued more than three months after
the initial estimate for GDP, all but
nore it. Why does the BEA do this?
Because GO demolishes the reigning
Keynesian economic orthodoxy that
gives primacy to consumption, not
production.
President Trump should imme-
diately order the BEA to get off its
duff and issue GO at the same time it
does GDP. F need an after-dinner drink.
RESTAURANTS:
GO, CONSIDER, STOP
Edible enlightenment from our eatery
experts and colleagues Richard Nalley,
as brothers Bob, Kip and Tim.
z Le Jardinier
610 Lexington Ave., at 53rd St.
(Tel.: 212-451-9211)
Chef Alain Verzeroli is steeped in the
Japan. His ground-floor restaurant’s leafy
plants and its marble walls and tabletops
The menu’s centerpiece is its use of seasonal
fruits and vegetables. A prime example is the
sensational watermelon, heirloom tomato,
ginger and mint appetizer. But Verzeroli
doesn’t stint on his fish selections, such as
bouillon, or in his meat offerings, like the
smoky, rich and toothsome bavette au jus.
Desserts are superb. You may never taste a
more mango-y mango than in his mango
crémeux with coconut sorbet.
z Agern
Grand Central Terminal, 89 East 42nd
St. (Tel.: 646-568-4018)
This Danish contemporary spot serves up
seasonal fare with a Scandinavian flourish.
(It also makes a great Cosmopolitan!) The
beef tartare is as tasty as it is beautifully pre-
sented, and the succulent pork shoulder is
particularly noteworthy. The chef even man-
ages to make fava beans exciting. Desserts
are good but are perhaps the weakest link
in an otherwise perfect meal. One caution
for a restaurant in a rail station: Service is
surprisingly slow.
z Momofuku Ssäm Bar
207 Second Ave., at 13th St.
(ssambar.momofuku.com)
Arguably the most influential restaurant
from New York’s most important restaurant
group of the past decade, Ssäm has a new
chef and a new menu focused on Singapore
street food, such as skate roasted in banana
leaf. While you can still furtively order a
pork bun, the culinary theatrics are largely
gone. Diners have noticed: It’s never been
easier to score a table.
z Mimi
185 Sullivan St., between Bleecker and
West Houston streets (Tel.: 212-418-1260)
You can’t go wrong with anything at this tiny
Village eatery. The menu is French with an
updated take on many classics. For a tasty
surprise try the veal brain appetizer. The
softshell crab is among the best you’ll have
had all season, and Goldilocks would declare
the hanger steak “just right.” If you choose
the baba au rhum for dessert, you won’t
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