Don't Confuse the "What" with the "How"

Don’t Confuse the “What” with the “How”
The View from the Middle

I was listening to the gaffe-master, Nancy Pelosi, this morning on MSNBC and it reminded me of two things; the incompetency of the press and then hollowness of the political debate in this country, especially from Nancy. I came to this conclusion because of something I learned while working for Procter & Gamble. In order to keep us focused on being productive versus just dreaming about the end result, P&G had a motto that went like this, “Don’t confuse the ‘what’ with the ‘how’.” It is fine to have a vision of what a positive result looks like (the what), but you must also have a plan that will deliver that result (the how).

When Nancy Pelosi was asked what policies she and the Democratic Party supported, she said, “We are for the people. We are for lower healthcare costs, and the reduction of prescription drug costs. We are for bigger paychecks for Americans and good paying jobs for our citizens.” Now if the MSNBC correspondent had more than two brain cells to rub together, he would have noticed that none of the things that Nancy mentioned were policies at all. These are all outcomes, or as P&G would say, they are “what” both parties are trying to accomplish. Which party, Nancy, is running “against the people” or for “higher healthcare costs” or “lower wages and poor paying jobs”?

But this is exactly what Nancy wants. She wants “We the People” to believe that if she claims these obvious and common outcomes or “whats”, the other side must be against them. Again, if the MSNBC reporter had any journalistic skills or instincts he would have confronted Nancy with the reality that her statements were all outcomes and forced her to explain what policies she proposed (the how’s) to deliver these results.

Let me take just one of these issues to demonstrate the difference between the “what” and the “how” and the difference between the liberal and conservative positions. Let’s talk about better paying jobs for all Americans. First, we have to accept that both parties are in favor of higher wages. Once we accept that, we must ask each party “how” they plan to achieve that goal.

The Democrats will propose big government solutions like raising the minimum wage to something like $15 an hour. I can see, however, a number of problems with this kind of approach. First, it allows federal bureaucrats, who have probably never run a business in their lives, to dictate to businesses what they must pay their employees. It sounds good, right. Government just passes a law that people have to be paid more! Problem fixed! But what they won’t tell you is that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has projected that a move like that will cause the elimination of 6.6 million jobs across the country. So when you add all of those zeroes to gains recognized, a minimum wage increase would barely move the needle in terms of real increased wages here in the good old US.

The Republicans should be supporting more of a free market solution. Remove regulations that hinder business startups and growth so that more people are employed. This will reduce unemployment and force businesses to compete for labor by paying their employees more money. Also, a policy aimed at eliminating unfair trade barriers and tariffs would bring back some of the five million manufacturing jobs we have lost just since the year 2000. Those manufacturing jobs are the really good jobs that paid over $20 per hour even back in 2014.

And, these are the very policies that the Trump administration has been pursuing for the past 18 month, and the results are just now coming in. GDP growth hit 4.1% last quarter and is projected to end the year with over 3.1% growth, which hasn’t happened since 2005. The unemployment rate is now below 4% and the labor market is tightening up putting pressure on wages. Average wages are growing at almost a three percent rate and faster than any time since 2009.

Personally, I’m willing to let these policies play out. I am concerned about the country’s debt but I will wait for year one results and year two projections to make that judgement. My counsel, however, for you my readers is not to confuse the “what” with the “how”. Both sides want economic growth, smart kids, affordable healthcare and equal opportunity for all people no matter their race, gender or sexual orientation. When you hear candidates try to claim those end results, remember to seek “how” they plan to deliver them so that you can judge the likelihood of their success.